Game On
by Cry Benihime
Summary: S6 possible scenario. Now that Damon is back Alaric and Enzo fìnd themselves having to fight for the place of best friend. Meanwhile Damon doesn't understand what's happening and Elena is having too much fun to stop the two vampires.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: So, after hearing Matt Davis say that he was a little bit jealous of Michael Malarkey and Ian Somerhalder after he got back in the cast, I just had to do this. I hope you like it, and if you catch some mistakes please tell me since English isn't my native language.**

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Alaric liked to think of himself as a level-headed person. That wasn't to say he was a saint, quite the contrary actually, but he always tried to be kind and friendly when meeting knew people. After the little problem he had had with his evil alter-ego, aptly named Evilaric by Damon, he had promised himself that he would try his hardest to stay as calm as possible if he ever had the chance of coming back to life, like everyone seemed to in Mystic Falls those days. Now that he was some kind of Super Original vampire, that promise had become his way of life. After all he didn't want to lose control and accidentally kill someone, especially since there was no one stronger than him to stop him.

Now in all this months spent comforting Elena and Jeremy for their losses, trying to pretend that he was fine even though he had lost his best friend again, and doing everything humanly possible to find a way to bring back to life said best friend, he had been able to keep his promise. Not to be smug or anything, but in those four months they had needed to bring back Damon and Bonnie, Alaric had not killed a single person. As soon as he had had his drinking buddy back, after his new disappearance in the Boarding House with Elena for an entire week, he had wasted no time in declaring himself a better new vampire than anyone else in that town. Obviously, Damon had immediately tried to shot him down saying that 'You still have a long way to go _Baby Vampire_ to reach the Damon standard of a functioning vampire'.

All in all, Alaric was perfectly content to say that he was getting the hang of this new life he had been gifted with. Except...except now he was really considering breaking his promise to live a calm and controlled life, not to say his four months record without a victim of any kind. Why was he thinking that? Simple: Alaric had just walked in the newly rebuilt Mystic Grill, ready to spend some time drinking with his buddy, only to be greeted by a sight that never, not even in his worst dreams, had he ever imagined to see. That...that _guy_ was sitting in _his_ stool on the Damon's left as if he had any right to be there. How dare he! He knew there had been a reason for his immediate dislike of Enzo. He had to do something, and quickly. He was not about to lose his best friend to some kind of psychotic, witty guy with an accent. He had to establish right away that the spot of Damon's best friend, not to mention go to guy when 'there is an emergency and I need help killing someone', was already taken. Enzo would have to settle for the place as former best friend and newly returned close friend.

A man with a purpose, Alaric marched towards Enzo stopping right between him and Damon, ending their conversation by placing his hand on the bar with, maybe, a little more strength than normal.

"You're in my seat," he said to Enzo looking him straight in the eyes.

"Good morning to you too, Alaric. How are you doing on this fine day?" Enzo answered without missing a beat, raising his glass to drink what appeared to be bourbon. Now he was drinking his liquor too. The nerve of this man.

"I'm walking on sunshine, thank you," Alaric replied, lips settled in a thin line. "You're still sitting in my seat. Move." Okay maybe he was being childish, but this was a matter of principles.

"Oh, you're being serious. I thought you were joking," Enzo said putting down his glass and turning

towards Alaric. "Anyways, I don't see your name written on it. Guess you'll have to sit somewhere else."

Alaric glared at Enzo with an intensity that would have had anyone running away fearing for their lives. He was preparing himself to forcibly remove that smug vampire from the stool when a voice cut the tense silence.

"What are you, twelve?" Damon said, having observed the exchange between his two friends with something akin to bafflement. Seriously, when had Rick ever behaved like that? From Enzo he expected this kind of behavior, he was the kind of man who liked to get on everyone else nerves; Alaric on the other hand was the most cool guy he had ever encountered, the kind of guy capable of discussing about what he planned for his next history class with the same calm voice with which he discussed about the next big bad villain to kill. "Enzo, just move to another seat so that Rick can sit in his stool," he said, trying to avoid a fist match in the middle of the Grill.

"You're kidding me, right? Now you want to tell me that this is really his seat? I got here first, why should I move?" Enzo said, not believing what he was hearing.

"Because you kind of are in his seat," Damon replied, trying to end the conversation before Alaric snapped. "Also, Rick is kind of an Original vampire so he could snap you in half without too much effort."

At this, Enzo looked at Alaric for a brief moment, assessing the situation, before sighing and standing up to move to the right of Damon. Seeing the other vampire backing down, Alaric smirked in his direction as if to say 'take that' before sitting in his place and ordering a glass of bourbon. God how he missed sitting there with someone by his side, instead of being alone with nothing but memories as company. He turned toward Damon only to find his friend staring at him as if waiting for an explanation.

"What?" he said, trying to sound as innocent as possible.

"Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed, or something?" Damon asked, raising an eyebrow and taking a sip from his bourbon.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Damon. I just wanted to sit on my seat," Rick said, trying to ignore the smug smirk that Enzo was throwing at him over Damon's shoulder. What the hell was he smirking about? Alaric sure wanted to punch him in the face in that moment.

"You know perfectly well what I'm talking about. What was that macho thing you pulled there with Enzo?" Damon turned to said man looking him straight in the eye. "Did something happened between the two of you while I wasn't here?" he asked, because that was the only thing that would explain what was going on here. Maybe he should ask Elena about it since she had spent a lot of time with Rick.

"Nothing happened, mate," Enzo said, always smirking. "I shouldn't have sat there, my apologies. I'll be sure to remember in the future," he said nodding toward Alaric. Rick narrowed his eyes, not buying for a second Enzo's kindness.

"Uh," Damon murmured, going back to his bourbon. What followed could only be described as ten minutes of awkwardness, with Enzo chatting about everything he could think about as though nothing had happened, Damon nodding at the appropriate time even though he was trying to come up with a reason for the apparent hostility between his two best friends, and Alaric silently disapproving everything Enzo did. When Damon's phone beeped with a text from Elena asking him to come home to help her with something, followed by a surprisingly suggestive winky face, he immediately jumped up ready to go.

"Well, as fun as this is, my girl needs my help so I'm gonna go," he said throwing some dollars on the bar to pay for his drink.

"Come on, seriously? You were with Elena only two hours ago," Enzo protested, upset by having been interrupted in the middle of his retelling about the vintage car he was thinking about buying.

"Sorry, man. I'm not gonna say no to her. Bye. See you, Rick," he said looking at his friend who raised his glass in response.

With Damon gone, the two vampires were left staring at each other across the abandoned stool. Neither wanted to be the first to lower their gaze, but both of them wanted to just get this over with and go on ignoring each other until the next time they were going to be forced to socialize because of Damon. In the end Alaric broke the silence.

"Listen, I don't know what you are trying to pull here, with your forced kindness and your stool-stealing attitude, but I don't like it. So stop it," he said in complete seriousness. Enzo, however, seemed only capable of smirking because he was still smiling when he answered.

"I'm not trying to pull anything, Alaric. I was just sharing some drinks with my mate when you had to come and ruin the perfectly relaxed atmosphere we were in with your grumpy self," he said.

"He's not your mate, _mate,_" Rick remarked, now starting to get annoyed with the other man. "He's my friend and you need to back off, am I clear?"

"Oh, so this is what we're really talking about. Damon," Enzo replied, putting down his glass and crossing his arms. "You feel threatened by me."

Alaric huffed derisively in his direction before answering. "Maybe you're the one who feels threatened, Lorenzo. You see I'm perfectly confident in my friendship with Damon. Can you say the same? I wasn't the one who got abandoned for seventy years," he said, knowing perfectly well that what he just said was a low blow. But this was war he couldn't afford to be gentle.

"So this is how it's going to be," Enzo said, now perfectly serious. "It seems like there's not enough space for the both of us in this town."

"It was inevitable," Rick said.

"Then I have a proposition for you," Enzo came out, surprising him.

Alaric narrowed his eyes but decided to listen to him, "I'm listening."

"What do you say we let Damon decide who is his best friend? That way we can resolve this...situation," Enzo said, extending his hand for Alaric to shake on. Rick knew the situation was getting pretty much out of control, and they were both behaving like children, but there really was no other way. They just couldn't go on sharing Damon like a divorced couple with shared custody. They already had to compete with Elena to get some time with their friend and they knew that if Damon had to chose between them and spending time with his girlfriend he would choose Elena. Especially after their forced separation. So Alaric knew what he had to do.

Alaric shook Enzo's hand.

"Game on."


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Here is the second chapter! I was so happy with the response I got from the first that I immediately started writing more. You guys are amazing and I thank you for the reviews, the favorites and the follows. Since I didn't say it on the first chapter, I don't own The Vampire Diaries nor the characters I used...as if hat wasn't obvious.**

**Enjoy this chapter and let me know what you think!**

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No matter what others might say, Elena Gilbert had had a lot of fun in her life. Together with Caroline, Bonnie and Matt she had been in her fair share of ridiculously funny moments.

There was the time she had offered to cut Caroline's hair when they were ten, only to end up chopping off a handful of her blonde tresses when Matt had made her laugh making funny faces. Caroline had not appreciated the fact that her right side was about five centimeter shorter than the left.

She could still remember the first time she got drunk with Caroline and Bonnie at the Grill. Yeah, let's just say that hadn't been the smartest idea, especially when Bonnie ended up slipping on some spilled beer ending up falling on the floor. Even though it had ended with the three of them being grounded for a month after Elena had screamed 'We need a doctor!' and her father just happened to be walking in at the exact moment, it had been worth it in the end. They still laughed when they remembered that night.

The time when Matt had dressed up as Superman when he was eight, saying that he was the strongest boy on Earth, only to end up screaming like a little girl when Vicky had kicked him in the shins, could still make her chuckle to this day.

However, nothing could rival with what was happening right before her eyes.

The day she had made Damon leave his friends at the bar to come to her, he had told her of Rick and Enzo's strange behavior. At first she had dismissed him, saying that they were probably having a bad day. Alaric might be good at controlling himself, but he was still a four-month-old Original vampire. He still needed time to adjust to this new life, or _afterlife_.

And Enzo...well no one ever knew what Enzo was up to. Maybe he had been upset with the newest technological gadget he had found. Everyone had noticed he was still a little upset with all the modern things he hadn't had time to get used to. Being captive for seventy years would do that to you, she guessed.

During the following days, though, she had started to notice things. Like how Alaric or Enzo could always be found around Damon, wherever he went. Now, Mystic Falls certainly wasn't a big town so it was normal to meet almost everyone you knew every time you went out. What wasn't normal was the way Alaric had appeared from nowhere the second she had left Damon's side, she had seen a really pretty dress and went to check it over, to ask him if he wanted to go to his loft to drink some bourbon and do what she guessed could be filed under the 'guy stuff' category.

The same could be said for Enzo. One afternoon they had come home after spending some time alone at the falls, only to be greeted by the sight of Enzo sitting on the sofa. When they had asked him what was he doing there, he had simply said that he wanted to ask Damon if he was in the mood for a game pool with him. The glare she had received when she had told him the were planning to have a romantic dinner just for the two of them, still shocked her.

That night while laying with her head on Damon's shoulder, after a round of pleasurably bendy sex, she had breached the subject with Damon.

"Damon?" She asked, caressing his chest.

"Hmm?" He answered while gently stroking her hair with his right hand.

"Have you noticed anything weird with Alaric and Enzo?" She inquired, trying not to sound too curious. After all she didn't want to upset him, not after everything that had happened during the last months.

"Weird as in..." Said Damon trailing off.

"I don't know. Like, do you think they've done anything unusual?"

Damon turned on his side to look at her before answering. "Now that I think about it, I haven't been able to drink with the both of them for more than five minutes, before something happens." He said playing with her hair. "Like yesterday, for example. I was drinking with Rick, then Enzo arrived and not two minutes later he spilled his drink on me. When I got back from the bathroom, they were both gone."

He stopped playing with her hair, furrowing his brows like he was thinking about something. In the end he just shrugged his shoulders and went back to caressing her.

"Anyway, I'm sure it was just an accident." He said, smiling at her.

"You're probably right." She agreed. However she was sure that something was going on. She had this nagging feeling in the back of her mind, telling her that the solution to the enigma was right before her eyes. What was it they said? Sometimes the most simple solution is also the right one?

The following days she continued to observe both Alaric and Enzo and every time she saw that something was not normal. In the end she decided to talk with Caroline and Bonnie, maybe they could help her.

"Are you sure you're not just imagining things?" Said Caroline when they were seated in a booth at the Mystic Grill.

"I'm telling you Caroline that something is happening, and I'm going to find out what it is even if it kills me." Hissed Elena. This thing was making her go crazy, she absolutely had to find out what Alaric and Enzo were doing. She was not about to give up.

"Is that why we sat here? So you could keep an eye on them?" Chimed Bonnie seeing Elena blushing.

"Yeah well..." Mumbled Elena. "I told Damon I wanted some girl time and suggested he should drink something with his friends."

"God, are you serious Elena? This is getting out of control." Exclaimed Caroline after signaling to Matt to come over.

"Listen, Damon is the common factor here. Every time they behave strangely he is present or nearby. If I can just observe them all together I'm sure I can figure this out." Insisted Elena keeping her eyes on the three aforementioned men.

Meanwhile Matt had arrived ready to take their orders.

"So what are you girls doing here?" He politely asked taking off his notepad.

"Elena is obsessing over her boyfriend and his two friends." Smirked Bonnie looking at Elena.

"Bonnie!" Exclaimed her. "I'm not obsessing!"

Matt furrowed his brows. "Is this about the weirdness that hangs around them? 'Cause if it is you got all my support."

Elena turned toward him. "Thank you!" She stated turning toward her friends with a smile. "See? I'm not the only one who noticed."

Caroline stared at her for a moment before sighing and turning to Matt. "All right then, Matt could you bring us two cokes and an iced tea, please? I guess we'll be staying here for a while." She stated.

Matt nodded and left to go fetch their drinks.

Caroline turned toward Elena. "If you're so sure about this then you should keep an eye on them." She suggested discreetly motioning toward the three vampires seated at the bar. "Meanwhile Bonnie and I are going to talk about the horrible afternoon I had with Tyler. You can butt in once in a while so they won't suspect you're stalking them." She added, waiting for Elena to agree with the action plan.

Elena smiled and nodded. "Thank you, Care." She replied before turning toward Damon to focus on her mission, only to suddenly turn again to Caroline grunting, "And I'm not stalking them, I'm just...satiating my curiosity." This said she turned back to her targets.

Caroline just shook her head before starting to tell Bonnie everything that happened with Tyler the day before.

From what Elena could see Damon, Alaric and Enzo were just drinking and chatting between them. There was nothing strange about the way they were behaving. Yet. If she was right, and she usually was, from everything she had gathered during the last days either Alaric or Enzo would start acting weird. That was the chance she would be waiting to figure out what was up with them.

She smiled at Matt when he came back with their drinks but immediately went back to her task. While she sipped her coke she tried to analyze the situation. Enzo seemed pretty at ease, maybe too much at ease. But then again maybe he had had a good morning. When she moved her gaze to Alaric she noticed that he seemed a little tense. He was sitting with his back straight and kept moving his eyes from the other two vampires to the barmaid and back. Maybe he hadn't drank enough blood and now he was hungry?

After about another five minutes, filled with random nods and hums she used to pretend to be part of the conversation she had been ignoring since the beginning, something changed. It seemed like Enzo had just said something funny because Damon suddenly smiled before taking a sip from his glass. But that wasn't the interesting part. The interesting part was the way Alaric subtly turned toward Damon and stretched one of his long legs to rest it against Damon's stool. Elena was pretty sure that if stools had backrests Alaric would be draping his arm over Damon's. She couldn't see Enzo's expression but, if the way Alaric's eyes narrowed was any indication, he was probably smiling at him like the cat that ate the canary.

Elena furrowed her brows. While Damon seemed oblivious to what was happening Enzo and Rick seemed to be silently challenging each other. What the hell was going on? Why were they being so strange? Alaric seemed on the verge of jumping on Enzo to throttle him. Or worse. Right then she caught a bit of what Caroline was saying to Bonnie.

"...I mean can you believe it? There I was thinking that he wanted to talk about us and instead what did we do? We spent an entire afternoon in this total awkwardness! Then, because apparently the silence wasn't awkward enough, he turned on the TV to avoid conversation and we ended up watching this documentary on Animal Planet!" She ranted to Bonnie who silently nodded. "We spent like two hours watching animals peeing around to mark their territory. What did I ever do to merit this?" She whined.

Elena in the meantime could do nothing but hear the same words going around her head.

_Peeing around to mark their territory..._

To mark their territory...

And then she put everything together. They were marking the territory! The way Alaric subtly moved closer to Damon responding to the silent challenge thrown at him by Enzo. Enzo spilling his drink on Damon to interrupt his conversation with Rick. The way the both of them were always hanging around him, waiting for the moment he was alone so they could be with him. It was so obvious! How had she not realized what was going on sooner?

When she finally understood Elena couldn't help laughing at the situation. Her sudden laugh made Caroline and Bonnie interrupt what they were saying to look at her questioningly. Elena fanned her face with her hands trying to catch her breath. As soon as she was able to breathe again she turned to her friends.

"They're jealous!" She beamed at them still chuckling.

Bonnie bent her head a little to the side. "Who are we talking about?" She asked.

"Alaric and Enzo." Explained Elena looking at her two best friends. "They're jealous of Damon because they both consider themselves his best friends!" She giggled.

Caroline and Bonnie exchanged a look.

"Are you sure?" Inquired Caroline, still doubtful.

"Look at them." Urged Elena. "Do they remind you of someone?" She smiled.

The two girls turned to look at the three vampires. Now it was Alaric's turn to smile with an air of satisfaction, while Enzo was clenching his hand around the glass with so much strength it was a miracle it hadn't exploded in a million pieces yet.

Bonnie and Caroline turned back with little smiles on their faces.

"They're behaving like Caroline and I did in first grade when we were competing for your friendship." Laughed Bonnie. Caroline and Elena soon joined her before the blonde looked at the brunette in front of her.

"What are you going to do now? Are you going to tell Damon?" She asked.

Elena thought about it for a moment before smiling and saying, "I don't think I will tell him yet. It's so entertaining watching Damon try to figure out what's gotten into his friends." She giggled thinking about all the funny moments she could witness now, knowing what she was looking at. "I can tell you one thing though." She said. Her friends waited to hear what she was thinking. "This is going to be so much fun!"


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Here is the third chapter guys! I had a little difficulty at first, I had so many different ideas that it was hard to decide which one to use. I think I came up with the right one, though. I had to break it into two chapters, because otherwise it was gonna be way too long, so next chapter is gonna be directly linked to this.**

**I wanna thank all of you for the reviews, the favorites, the follows and for making this story reach the 1000 views! I really didn't expect things to go so well with my first story, so thanks!**

**Enjoy this chapter!**

**P.S: I think I forgot to answer to some who reviewed and I want to apologize but I'm in the middle of university exams so I hope you'll forgive me!**

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To say that Enzo wasn't happy was probably the understatement of the century. Things just weren't going his way. Was it too much to ask for just a little bit of luck on his side? He certainly didn't think so. How was it even possible for so many things to go wrong in a single day? Certain things had to be impossible, or at the very least highly improbable.

He had woken up that day feeling particularly refreshed, which probably had something to do with the blond that the night before had, so generously, let him drink her blood and satisfy his needs. He had even been so kind as to not killing her. Yes that had been one really good night. Alas, everything good has to end sooner or later.

First he had to take a cold shower because for some reason there was no hot water. In the whole house. Like, none. That surely had irritated him. If there was something he really loved, that was a hot shower. After all the cold ones he was given while in captivity, he had promised himself that never again was he letting something colder than a freshly bought bottle of beer touch his skin.

Then he found out that he had forgotten to record his favorite TV program, Top Gear. He might have cursed like a sailor for something like twenty minutes after he discovered it was an episode about vintage sport cars. He was so angry he had started pacing around his apartment, failed to notice the PS4 controller on the floor, tripped on it and ended up braking his neck against the coffee table.

When he woke up, he seriously considered the idea of checking the horoscope to see if the universe was against him. Not that he believed in horoscopes or anything like that.

Last but not least things weren't going that well on the Damon-front. Alaric was proving himself to be a much more dangerous opponent than he thought. When he had proposed the bet he was sure he was gonna win without much effort. Now he wasn't so sure about that. It seemed he and Alaric were at an impasse since Damon didn't seem to favor one of them over the other.

He had to think of something to put him under a better light than Alaric. Something that would make Damon see he was the one best suited to be his Best Friend.

Just then he noticed a piece of paper stuck under his door. He crawled over to it and what he saw made a smile appear on his face. Apparently they were opening a new mall in Richmond. Just what he needed.

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Unbeknown to him Alaric was having similar thoughts. He was currently having breakfast while watching the episode of Top Gear he had recorded the night before, after the most relaxing hot shower he had ever taken. All in all he was having an amazing morning. In fact this had to be the most perfect morning he had ever had in Mystic Falls since he moved there.

Only one thing was clouding his mood. He wasn't making any progress with Operation Damon's-Best-Friend-Has-To-Be-Me-Period. It seemed like Enzo knew what he was doing. Alaric thought that not being around each other for seventy years meant that he and Damon had nothing to talk about. From the look of things, however, it looked like spending five years being cellmates created some kind of indestructible bond. Or so Enzo said.

Rick refused to feel threatened by that. He had to remind himself that the Damon he knew, was the new and improved Damon. Like a Damon 2.0. He had been one of the few privileged people that got to see the change from psychotic serial-killer to a man that fiercely cared and protected those he loved. He could also count himself amongst that short list of people.

That said he had to find something that would show Damon the depths of their friendship. Their bond. Just then a commercial on TV said that they were opening a new mall in Richmond. Alaric smiled, that was exactly what he needed.

* * *

Everything was ready. Elena had made sure Damon was occupied that afternoon; she really needed to thank Jeremy for that. She still couldn't help smiling every time she saw the two of them together. Even though Damon would never admit it, he liked to be some sort of a big brother for Jeremy. And Jeremy liked having Damon as a surrogate big brother.

Elena reached her car and jumped in. She had to remember she had a mission today. A little bird, thanks to Damon's tips on how to compel animals, had told her that Alaric and Enzo would go to the new mall in Richmond today. She wasn't going to lose such an opportunity to watch what was rapidly becoming her favorite pastime.

Once she had reached her destination she immediately took a seat at one of the tables of the bar just to the left of the mall's entrance. She had made sure to arrive first so she could watch what were the intentions of the two vampires.

While she was sipping her cappuccino she saw a familiar man enter and stopping in the middle of the hall to look around. 'Here goes Enzo', she thought. She observed as he seemed to get his bearings, moving forward to start looking at the shops. She debated following him, but decided against it. If she was right he and Alaric were searching for a gift to hand Damon, so it would look suspicious if she already knew what they had bought. Because yes, she was going to be present the moment of the gift giving. As if she would miss that.

Not ten minutes later arrived Alaric, though he seemed to know exactly what he wanted to buy. He took the escalator and went up to the second floor. Elena was left with nothing to do but wait to see what happened. She couldn't follow both of them if she wanted to at least catch a glimpse of what they were buying. Maybe she could start a bet on it. Since she was probably going to wait for a while she decided to call Jeremy to check up on him and Damon.

She put the cellphone to her ear and waited for him to answer, observing the people coming and going around her in the meantime.

"_Hello?"_ Said her brother through the line.

"Hey Jer, it's me. I wanted to now how you guys were doing." She asked him.

"_We're doing pretty good, sis. I'm currently trashing Damon at Call of Duty."_ He replied smugly. Elena smiled hearing Damon in the background growling about 'stupid kids that were surely cheating, because he wasn't this pathetic at this freaking game!'. Damon surely hated loosing.

"You might want to be careful, Jer. You know how he gets when things don't go his way." She chuckled.

Jeremy softly laughed back at her. _"I definetly remember how he got back at me. Though I have to say I expected more than a sugary plate of spaghetti alla bolognese from him."_ He was saying this now but at the time that happened he surely wasn't laughing.

More grumbling could be heard coming from Damon. Did she hear him threatening to shave her brother's head in the middle of the night? Elena figured it was time to intervene before Damon actually followed through with his threat. She wasn't sure Jeremy could pull off a shaved head.

"Jeremy, could you pass me Damon? Maybe I can get him to calm down a bit." She asked her brother. A moment later a disgruntled Damon was on the phone.

"_Yes?"_ He hissed through the phone like an angry snake.

Elena would have laughed if she wasn't afraid of really hurting his pride. "I heard things aren't going so well for you."

"_He's cheating, Elena! I know he's cheating, there's no way he got so good at this stupid game!"_ He fumed. She could almost imagine him gritting his teeth while sending venomous glares at her brother.

"I'm sure he is, Damon." She tried to calm him down. "But maybe you could level up the game by wiping out those vamp skills you're so proud of?" She suggested.

A moment of silence followed.

"_...I'm already using them..."_ Murmured Damon with a touch of embarrassment. It was pure torture for him to admit his total defeat.

This time Elena had to cover the speaker of her cellphone to try and hide the small chuckle that escaped her lips. When she was sure she could speak without betraying her hilarity she uncovered the phone and put it back to her ear.

"I'll tell you what." She smiled. "If you let him win and you promised not to get back at him in _any_ way, then tonight I'll make it up to you." She said, lowering her voice to a sensual murmur.

"_Looks like your brother is a natural at this game. I don't think I can do anything to win against him."_ Replied Damon already making plans for that night.

Right then Elena saw that Enzo was coming out of a shop with a big bag with him. Upstairs it looked liked Alaric had also found what he was looking for. Immediately Elena saw an opportunity for some entertainment and told Damon she had to go and to be prepared for their night.

As soon as she hanged up on her boyfriend, Elena reached out to grab the wrist of a young redhead passing by. Normally she would have been against it, but she wasn't harming anyone and she couldn't miss this opportunity. She compelled the girl to go and engage Enzo in a conversation till the moment Alaric was close enough to notice him. The girl did as she was told and Elena leaned back in her chair, prepared for the show to start.

Just like she thought as soon as they saw each other the challenge begun. Alaric stopped about a meter in front of Enzo, staring him straight in the eye. Enzo, not willing to lose against his opponent, stared right back. The redhead, in the meantime, had left probably going back to what she was doing before. Elena tuned in with her vampire hearing, ready to catch every single word they were going to say. This time it was Enzo who broke the silence.

"Well, look who's here. The teacher." He smirked. "What are you doing here? Buying supplies for the upcoming school year?" He joked, delighted to see a muscle contract on Alaric's jaw.

"Very funny Enzo, really. Did you stay up all night to come up with that?" Replied Alaric not missing a beat.

"I did stay up all night, but not for that if you know what I'm saying." He said, wiggling his eyebrows in a suggestive way.

"Cut the crap." Sneered Alaric, clenching his free hand in a fist. How was it that this man could annoy him in the blink of an eye? It had to be some kind of supernatural ability. "What are you really doing here?" He asked seriously.

"Now why would I tell you?" Sang Enzo without loosing the delighted grin. It was really way too easy to upset the man. "Although I bet I know what _you_ are doing here." He continued. Rick raised an eyebrow waiting to hear what he had to say. "You're planning on buying Damon off." He beamed receiving confirmation of his theory when Alaric's eyes grew wide. "As if that is gonna work." He finished.

"You're one to talk." Snapped Rick gesturing towards the bag Enzo was gripping. "As if you weren't thinking the exact same thing." He said, glad to see how Enzo's eyes suddenly lowered to the floor. It was time for the killing blow. "And, by the way, I'm not buying him off like some kind of trophy wife you can please with a diamond necklace. I'm his friend, and friends give gifts to each other sometimes." He said with an air of superiority, glad to have found a way to justify his initial idea.

Enzo raised his head. "Oh, really? Than you can bet my gift is gonna be way better then yours!" He challenged.

"I sincerely doubt it." Said Alaric gritting his teeth.

"We'll see." Replied Enzo.

That said, the two stalked off ignoring each until they reached the exit and could finally go into different directions.

Elena was so glad she had made the two of them confront each other. Things like this were exactly what she had been hoping to see since she had figured out what they were doing. Finishing her cappuccino she prepared to leave and meet with Caroline and Bonnie to tell them of what had just happened. However she stopped before leaving.

Maybe they had a Victoria Secret in this mall? After all she had a grumpy boyfriend at home waiting for her to cheer him up. Smiling she started looking around.


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Here you go with the next chapter! I hope I don't disappoint you since we have reached THE moment: the gift exchange!**

**Once again thanks to all those who review; a special thank you to the guests I can't personally respond to, you are great guys!**

**Also it is my understanding that today the students in the US had to go back to school, so I hope this will cheer you up a bit!**

* * *

The day had finally come. That afternoon Alaric and Enzo were going to give Damon their gifts. Elena had been waiting the whole week for that day. She was sure they were going to give them to him immediately, but apparently Enzo had to wait for the remaining part of his present to arrive before he could give it to Damon. Alaric had decided to wait for him. He wanted them to give their gifts together, so that they could observe Damon's reaction and finally see which one he preferred.

To be honest, Alaric had been a little alarmed when Enzo had said he had another part of his gift coming. What could he have bought? What if his gift was better than his? But then, Alaric reminded himself that nothing in the whole world was better than what he had prepared. Damon would never know what hit him.

For that reason, that sunny afternoon, he was calmly walking toward the Boarding House with his gift all wrapped up and his secret weapon in the safety of his jacket pocket. He couldn't help but smile. Today he would finally win the title he already knew he had: Damon's Best Friend. Everything would be all the more sweet since he would have a front seat to Enzo's defeat.

Just when he was about to take the turn to reach Damon's, and Elena these days, house he saw Enzo right in front of him, ready to take the same turn. 'When you speak of the Devil'. It was incredible sometimes how often they seemed to meet these days. It was like someone was orchestrating the whole thing from behind the curtains. Alaric shook his head, he really needed to stop being so paranoid all the time.

"Hey, Lorenzo." He greeted the other vampire, still refusing to call him 'Enzo' like everyone else did. He figured he could at least try and be civil to the man, since today he was gonna have to settle for second good friend. "You ready?"

Enzo narrowed his eyes, surprised by Alaric's sudden kindness. "Why are you being so nice?" He wanted to know.

Alaric shrugged his shoulders, walking alongside Enzo toward their destination. "No reason." He replied. "It's just a good day and I'm feeling quite happy."

Enzo snickered under his breath. "Well you're not going to be happy for long, Alaric." He stated with an air of confidence. "Today you're going to see who is best suited for the spot of Damon's best friend." He continued. "Just a little hint: his name starts with an E." He concluded with his trademark smirk.

Alaric flung all his good intentions right out of the window. It was simply impossible to be kind to him for more than a couple of minutes. "Yeah about that." He spoke, turning to look Enzo in the eye. "Do you have a handkerchief with you?" Enzo regarded him with a confused expression. Alaric smiled before finishing. "You know, when you need to cry your eyes out when you'll witness Damon choosing me." He rejoiced.

Enzo actually chuckled before resting his hand on Alaric's shoulder. "That was a good one!" He laughed. "But you should be the one taking your own advice."

"Nah, I don't think so." Disagreed Alaric, while shaking his hand from his shoulder. "I'm pretty sure my gift cannot be surpassed by anything."

"You seem awfully confident for a man with only one little bag." Pointed out Enzo, raising an eyebrow.

"Says the one with just one bag too." Answered Alaric gesturing toward Enzo's bag.

Enzo raised his bag. "This is only the first part. The second part will be home delivered." Answered him back.

Alaric did a double take at that. What the hell was he having home delivered? A caravan? "Yeah well it really doesn't matter what you bought." Countered Rick, gathering his resolve. "It's not a matter of how big it is, it's a matter of quality." He stated, nodding toward his bag.

"You now that from experience?" Joked Enzo.

Alaric clenched his hand. How was it possible that he always had to make some stupid innuendo every time they talked? He really wanted to punch him in the face.

The temptation to do exactly that was about to overwhelm him, since Enzo seemed incapable of stopping giggling like a teenage girl. Fortunately for him they had finally reached the Boarding House. They stopped when they saw that right in front of the door was Jeremy, with a hand raised to knock on the door.

"Hey, Jeremy! What are you doing here?" Asked Alaric raising his voice to be heard.

Jeremy turned toward him, nodding in Enzo's direction to greet him. "The same thing you're doing. There's the party." He said, shrugging his shoulders.

Enzo and Rick exchanged a confused look before the former turned to address the young man. "What party?"

Jeremy looked at them as if they had suddenly grown another head each. "Uh, Damon and Bonnie welcome back party?" He asked rhetorically. "That's why you guys have brought gifts, right?"

Before Enzo could say anything Alaric interrupted him. "Yeah, that's exactly why we brought gifts."

Jeremy nodded and turned to knock on the door. Enzo lightly slapped Rick on the arm as if asking 'what are you doing?'. Alaric whispered to him in response. "It's probable that everyone we know is inside that house. Wouldn't it be weird if we stepped in to give Damon his gifts with everyone watching and asking why are we doing that? At least now we have an excuse."

A second later the door of the Boarding House opened and they were greeted by Elena's smiling face.

"Great, you finally arrived!" She beamed at them. "We were waiting for you." She continued gesturing for them to come in. She tightly hugged both Jeremy and Alaric then, surprising everyone, she hugged Enzo too.

"What is that for?" Asked Enzo when she finally let him go. Elena just shrugged her shoulders without losing her smile before guiding them towards the parlor, where everyone was waiting. The truth was that even though Elena always felt a little unnerved when in Enzo's presence, lately she had begun to reevaluate her opinion of him. In the end he was a lot like Damon when they had first met. He was alone and he just needed someone to give him a chance. Plus she clearly saw how much he valued Damon's friendship, so he couldn't be a bad man.

When they stepped into the parlor everyone stopped talking and turned toward them. Jeremy moved to sit by Bonnie's side, gently kissing her on the lips to greet her before nodding toward Damon and Caroline. Elena moved toward the kitchen, caressing Damon's back while passing by him, saying that she wanted to make some popcorn.

Damon, who was standing by the liquor cart ready to pour himself a drink, followed her with his eyes until she disappeared in the other room before turning to look at his friends. Said friends were standing stock still in the middle of the entryway not sure about what was happening. What was this party thing?

"Finally you arrived!" Exclaimed Caroline, breaking the silence. "We were beginning to think that you had gotten lost." She said, with a teasing smile. Before anyone could answer she kept going on. "Come on, let's get this show started! Show us what you got!"

Alaric had no idea what to do so it was Enzo who asked, "What are you talking about, gorgeous?"

Caroline rolled her eyes."Why the gifts of course!" She laughed, with a twinkle in her eyes. "We already gave ours to Bonnie, now we wanna see what you guys will give to Damon."

Damon seemed to be a little uncomfortable at the thought of everyone witnessing that moment. He usually liked being the center of attention, but this was different. This was something meaningful, private, almost intimate in some ways. He really had no idea how he was supposed to behave. Alaric and Enzo seemed to be having the exact same thoughts. This was not how they had planned things. They weren't supposed to have an audience! It should have been just the three of them.

Meanwhile Elena was silently smiling in the kitchen, preparing popcorn for what was sure to be one of the most entertaining moment in her life. When she told Caroline and Bonnie about the gifts the two men were planning on giving Damon, the two girls had demanded to be present when the moment of the gift giving arrived. So together they had come up with the idea of the welcome back party they still hadn't thrown.

She was aware of the fact that this was going to be hard for Damon. After all he wasn't used to people showing him affection so openly. But she also knew that once everything would be over, he would treasure this memory among the happiest ones. She wanted him to see that she wasn't the only one that loved him, that he had friends in this town. Friends that cared about him and wanted to show that to him.

With that in mind, she grabbed her bag of popcorn and marched back into the parlor. Things were still tense in the room, with everyone waiting to see what Alaric and Enzo were going to give Damon. A cell phone beeping interrupted the silence. Enzo reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. After looking at the message he had just received, Enzo smiled.

"Well, it looks like the second part of my gift has been delivered so I'd say that I should be the one to go first." He announced, looking at Alaric as if waiting for him to protest. Alaric simply shrugged and gestured with his hand for him to go on. Enzo walked up to Damon and handed him the bag.

"This is for you, mate." He smiled at him.

Damon reached for the bag and murmured a soft 'thank you', before putting his hand inside the bag to pull out the gift. What appeared before his eyes was a beautiful black leather jacket, one of those worn when riding a motorbike. It was really simple, nothing too fancy, but it was clear that it had cost no small amount of money.

"Thanks." Breathed Damon. "This is great, but..." He lowered the jacket on the backrest of the sofa. "I don't have a motorbike." He finished.

"That's where you're wrong." He nodded towards the door for him to follow him. Damon did as asked, immediately tailed by everyone else. Once outside he stilled, frozen on the spot.

"What do you say, mate? Isn't it beautiful?" Smirked Enzo, pleased by Damon's reaction.

In front of them, shining under the sunlight, was a slick black Ducati. Like the jacket it wasn't anything too showy but nonetheless it was simply beautiful. Damon moved toward it and caressed it with his hand, getting the feeling of it. He was clearly delighted by what he had right before his eyes.

"I know it's not the Camaro, but maybe it could be a nice change?" Said Enzo. "Why don't you take it for a ride?"

Elena and the others were amazed at Enzo's gift. She never thought things would reach this level. How could she have imagined that Enzo was going to give Damon a freaking motorbike? How was Alaric supposed to top that? Speaking of Alaric, she had to do something or he wouldn't even get the chance to give him his gift.

"Why don't you wait until Alaric gives you his gift to go on that ride?" She asked Damon who had been in the middle of lifting his leg to straddle his new bike.

"Oh." He said. "You're right. Maybe I should." With that he turned toward Alaric who looked remarkably calm considering the situation.

"Here, I hope you like it just as much." Said Rick handing him his bag with a confident smile.

Damon reached inside and pulled out a wooden box. Once he opened it and looked inside, everyone heard him gasping. Inside the box was an old looking bottle of Bourbon.

"That's it?" Said Enzo, incredulous. "Just a bottle of Bourbon?" He laughed.

Damon, in the meantime, was cradling that bottle with what looked like reverence. "It's not 'just a bottle of Bourbon'." He breathed without looking away from it. "This is a bottle of Pappy Van Winkle. And by the looks of it it's from at least the early 1900's." He raised his eyes toward Alaric who was looking at him with a smile. "How did you even get this?"

"It looks like the owner of the shop I visited is friends with the master distiller of the Buffalo Trace Distillery." He explained. "We talked a bit and, when he understood how much I love Bourbon, he decided to offer me the possibility of buying this bottle. And..." He reached inside his jacket pocket. "He also gave me this." He handed Damon a piece of paper. "It's the phone number of the master distiller. If we call him he has promised us a tour of the Distillery."

Damon seemed on the verge of having a heart attack. He gently put the bottle inside the wooden box and handed it to Elena, before tightly hugging Alaric.

Enzo couldn't believe what was happening. A bottle of Bourbon was beating his awesome motorbike? How could it be? Apparently he was losing. He was thinking about leaving when Damon let Alaric go and turned to him. He had an incredible smile on his face.

"You're coming with us right, Enzo?" He beamed at him. "I'll even get to ride the bike you gave me. Although you'll have to ride with Rick in his car. I'm not letting anyone on my new bike."

Enzo couldn't help but smile right back at him. Maybe he hadn't lost yet, Damon seemed incredibly proud of his new bike. The vampire couldn't even care that he would have to drive till Kentucky with Alaric. He still had a chance.

Elena felt so happy for Damon. Looking at him smiling at his two friends, unknowingly making them both so happy without favoring one over the other, she couldn't help but feel completely at peace. The idea of being all present to witness the gift giving moment had initially being conceived to have a laugh at the two vampires. Now, however, they had assisted at a beautiful moment between the three friends. She even felt a little as if she was intruding in a private moment.

Oh well. They still had tomorrow to have a good laugh. She had the feeling that things were far from over.


	5. Chapter 5

**Sorry for the delay, guys! This chapter was really hard to write, but it needed to come out. I need to warn you that we are getting close to the end of this little fic, I never intended it to get too long since it's my first. But I will write more after this, maybe even little one shots connected to this story. If you want to suggest possible scenarios please do! You can either let me know with a review or you can PM me.**

**Once again thank you all for your support! **

Damon was having the time of his life. Seriously, everything was just about perfect. He was back in the land of the living, even though technically he wasn't even _alive_. His relationship with Elena was going on smoothly, now that they had finally sat down and talked about things like two mature adults. And his two best friends were just about the most amazing people he had ever met. I mean, who bought motorbikes and $5000 bottles of bourbon? Maybe he should start thinking about something to give them in return?

He was distracted by his thoughts when Elena slightly moved to adjust herself against him. They were currently sprawled on the sofa with her cuddled against him in between his legs, while they were watching what Damon had declared the most amazing TV-series ever: Friends. He had told her that it was simply ridiculous the fact that she had never watched even one episode of it. After that he had immediately set out to remedy at the situation.

"What are you thinking about?" She softly asked raising her head to look him in the eye. "I can almost hear your thoughts bouncing around that thick head of yours." She lazily smiled.

He kissed her forehead before raising his right hand to tuck a lock of her hair behind her ear. "If you really want to know," he answered in the same soft voice as if trying to avoid ruining the atmosphere "I was thinking about Alaric and Enzo."

Elena furrowed her brows, one side of her mouth lifting up. "Should I be worried that you're thinking about, not one, but two men while you're here with me?" She joked.

Damon smiled lovingly at her. "You will never need to worry about that." He whispered to her. "You know I love you. More than anything." He finished, bending down to kiss her.

Elena kissed him back, thinking that there really was nothing to worry about. She had been joking, but if she thought about it, she couldn't even consider the idea of him cheating on her. Because even if he had said them months ago, she could still remember his words with perfect clarity. _You are my life_. She knew that he would have never said such a thing if it wasn't the truth.

When they separated Elena cuddled back against his chest, settling her hand over his heart. "Why were you thinking about them?" She asked, really curious. Was he starting to realize what they were trying to do?

Damon sighed contentedly before answering. "It's just that...since the day of the welcome back party I've been thinking." He said staring at the TV where Chandler was trying to understand why everyone thought he was gay when they met him for the first time.

"Thinking about what?" She couldn't help but giggle, this show was really funny.

When Damon didn't answer she raised her head to look at him. His brows were furrowed and he clearly was wondering if he wanted to say out loud what he was thinking about. He nodded lightly before looking at her.

"Do you think Rick and Enzo are friends?" He blurted out before he could reconsider his decision.

Elena didn't know what to say. She opened her mouth to say something, anything, but nothing came out. Damon's eyes were fixed on hers, clearly waiting for her to say something.

When she finally found her voice again the only thing she could say was, "W-what...how...where does this come from?" She stuttered.

Damon pressed pause on the remote to stop the episode before answering. "Well, I'm friends with both of them, right?" He rhetorically asked her. "Rick and I didn't exactly start on the best terms, but then we became friends because we kind of are kindred spirits, in some ways. "He explained. Elena was waiting to see where he was going with this. "As for me and Enzo, spending five years together in a cell with no one else to talk to really doesn't give you much of a choice." He said sarcastically. Elena grimly smiled, knowing that it still hurt him to talk about those years. "But he reminded me of myself, you know? When I was human." He stopped, as if collecting his thoughts.

Elena wasn't sure what he was trying to explain. "What are you trying to say?"

"What I'm trying to say is, I was the one that became friends with them." He stated. "I'm always the one who hangs out with the both of them. I've never seen them hang out just the two of them. Except when we go out drinking, but that's only because I'm there too." He seemed uncannily nervous.

Elena finally understood what he was trying to say. "You wonder if you three only hang out together because of you. If they only tolerate each other because you are friends with both." She stated sure that what she was saying was the truth.

Damon nodded at her, lowering his eyes. "I don't want them to, you know, spend time together if they hate each other." He mumbled.

Elena smiled sweetly at him. It was so like him to worry about something like this. She knew that he never had that much friends in his life so it was normal for him to worry about them. She could understand, he didn't want to force them to spend time with each other if they weren't on friendly terms, but he also didn't want to come to the point where he would have to choose between them. She realized this could be a problem since both Rick and Enzo were trying to make him do exactly that.

She would have to think about that later, now she had to reassure Damon that nothing bad was going to happen with his friends. She put her hand under his chin, gently raising his head so she could look him in the eye.

"Damon, you do realize that this is not something that depends on you, right?" She asked him.

Damon tilted his head to the side. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, of course it's normal for you to worry if your two friends can't stand each other." She explained. "But when it comes to it, they're the ones that have to find a way to spend time with each other. For your sake."

At this Damon seemed to be lost. Elena smiled with understanding. "If they are your friends and they both want to be part of your life, then they will find a way to be friends with each other." She finished, hoping to have reassured him.

Damon seemed to still have some doubts. "How can you be sure? What if they really hate each other and then I'm forced to choose only one of them?"

Elena looked him straight in the eyes. "I know from experience that they will find a way." She laughed. "Caroline and Bonnie had the same problem with me and look at us now!" She smiled.

"Yeah but you're girls, it's different." He mumbled before taking the remote with the intention of re-starting the episode they were watching.

"Oh really?" Asked Elena, before re-settling in position against her boyfriend's chest, knowing that for now she had defeated his worries. She gently caressed his chest. "Don't worry everything will be alright."

Damon pressed the play button on the remote, and the two of them spent the rest of the evening laughing watching Friends.

* * *

The following morning, when Damon went out to find a hospital far from Mystic Falls, they really couldn't continue to steal all their blood, since they were running a little low on blood bags, Elena decided to call a girls meeting at the Boarding House. When Caroline and Bonnie finally arrived she explained to them the situation.

"Girls, we have a problem." She reported seriously.

Bonnie immediately worried. "Why? What is going on?"

"Yeah, don't tell me that someone wants to kill us all again!" Whined Caroline. She was totally fed up with vampires, travelers and whatever trying to mess up their life. As if they needed any help with that.

Elena immediately tranquilized them. "No, no." She quickly said waving her hands. "No one wants to kill us." Bonnie and Caroline sighed in relief. "It's something else and I really need your help with this."

The two girls looked at each other and then nodded. "Tell us what we can do."

Elena took a deep breath to steel herself. "We need to make Alaric and Enzo become friends." She said all in one breath.

The witch and the vampire didn't know what to say. They stared at her as if she had grown another head, or as if she had told them that she wanted to shave her hair off. What were they supposed to say? Was she even being serious?

Caroline raised her hand as if to try and disperse the fog she felt in her head after what she had just heard. "Maybe I didn't hear you right." She said laughing nervously. "Did you just say that we need to make Alaric and that...that guy become friends?" She asked hoping for Elena to laugh and tell them that she was just joking.

However Elena just nodded. "That's exactly what we have to do." She insisted.

Bonnie shook her head. "But...why?" She just couldn't understand why Elena had come up with this idea.

Elena sat down on the sofa in the parlor, motioning for her friends to do the same. Once they were all comfortable she explained.

"Yesterday night, Damon told me that he fears Rick and Enzo can't stand each other and the only reason they even tolerate to stand in each other presence is because they're his friends."

Caroline shrugged her shoulders. "Well, isn't that the truth?" She said like it was obvious. "I mean they are complete opposites, how could they ever be friends?"

Elena sighed frustrated. "I know that, Care. But Damon feels like he will have to choose one of them, if they really hate each other so much, and he doesn't want to do that."

"Which is exactly what Rick and Enzo want him to do." Completed Bonnie, finally understanding what Elena was so worried about. Elena looked at her and nodded with a grim smile.

"Yeah, but Elena," started Caroline "How are we supposed to make them become friends? It's impossible!" She exclaimed.

Bonnie turned toward her furrowing her brows. "Why are you so sure of that?"

Caroline regarded her with bafflement. "Oh I don't know, Bonnie." She said with sarcasm. "Maybe because Alaric is a decent human being and Enzo is...Enzo? With his stupid accent and that stupid smirk that I want to slap off his face and..." She stopped when she noticed that both her friends were looking at her with little smiles on their faces. "What?"

"Do you like Enzo?" Asked Bonnie, teasing her.

Caroline sputtered indignantly. "How can you even say that?"

Before her two friends could start bickering Elena raised her voice. "Hey, we need to find a solution to our current problem." She intervened. "Then we can tease Caroline about her new crush."

Once they finally got to thinking of something to do, after a grumbled 'I don't have a crush on Enzo' by Caroline, silence reigned in the room. They were all thinking about different plans to try and make the impossible happen. When Caroline straightened with a smile, Elena and Bonnie looked toward her, hoping for a plan that could prove successful.

"I got it!" Exclaimed Caroline. "Why don't you use, you know..._that thing_ you were preparing?" She asked Elena.

Elena grimaced. "That would probably work but I wanted to save it for Damon's birthday." She exclaimed. "Maybe we could keep it as a plan B?"

Caroline nodded, crestfallen. She really thought that would work. After another five minutes Bonnie looked at her friends a little unsure.

"Maybe I know how we could force them to interact and get over their issues with each other." She said tentatively. "But it could be risky."

Caroline and Elena moved closer to her.

"We have no choice Bonnie." Said Elena, her tone of voice indicating that she was willing to do whatever it took to fix this messed up situation. "We need to make this happen."

Bonnie swallowed and begun exposing her idea, thus making the long day of planning start.


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: Here is the next chapter! I hope you like it : )**

**Now it has been brought to my attention that Stefan is nowhere to be found in this story. The reason for that is pretty simple: from S6 spoilers we know that he immediately left town after Damon and Bonnie died and since I am not really one of his fans and I don't want the way I feel about him to creep in when I write, thus portraying him in an unfair way, I decided to just pretend he is living the life he wants the way he wants it.**

**I also have to ask for forgiveness again for not answering to your reviews, this week I went back to class at university and I really didn't have that much time to use my computer but I want you to know that I love and appreciate every single one of you!**

* * *

Enzo was strolling down the street, looking as if he didn't have a single care in the world, his dark eyes hidden behind a pair of shiny new sunglasses. Even though he had been blessed with a daylight ring, his eyes still hurt when the sun was too strong. Nonetheless he was grateful for the possibility of walking in broad daylight as opposed to hiding in the dark.

He was feeling particularly good that day. After the shock he had experienced during what he had decided to call 'The Day of his Almost Loss', things had returned to normality. Although 'normality' was maybe too strong a word to describe their situation. Was it normal for two adults to bicker like silly teenaged girls over who was Damon's best friend? Enzo was sure it wasn't, however he had no intention of stopping until they reached the end of this affair.

If he had to be honest he was starting to have second thoughts about this whole thing. If his opponent had been anyone else he might have considered reaching a compromise. But this was Alaric. Enzo wasn't sure of the reason for his dislike of the teacher, he just knew that he couldn't stand him. Maybe it had something to do with his holier-than-thou attitude when deep down Enzo knew that the he was capable of some serious shit. Or maybe it was the fact that he didn't want him around Damon saying stupid things like 'I don't want you to steer him toward the wrong path again'.

Whatever the reason, he really disliked Alaric. He was pretty sure the sentiment was reciprocated.

He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't even realize he was being followed until a blond tornado appeared right before his eyes. Before his neck snapped and everything became black, the only thing Enzo thought was 'The bloody hell is happening?'.

* * *

Alaric was in his classroom preparing the history program for the upcoming school year. It was going to be weird not seeing Elena, Caroline and all the others in his class anymore. He was proud of them though. Even in the midst of everything that had happened they still had found the way to graduate. He had even had the luck of being temporarily back to life that day. Although he was watching his friend being shot full of werewolf venom so maybe that hadn't been such a spectacular day.

Once he had finished with his lessons planning, he opened the drawer of his desk pulling out a half empty bottle of bourbon. He had to thank Elena for that, it was one of the twelve-bottle case he had received as a welcome back to life gift. They had ended up drinking two of them the same night as a tribute to Damon.

Speaking of Damon things seemed to be quiet for the moment. If he had to be honest he considered himself slightly in advantage in his and Enzo competition. 'Thank you Pappy Van Winkle'. Served him right, if Enzo thought he could win against him he had another thing coming. He really couldn't stand the older vampire and he knew perfectly well why. He was always so reckless, so ready to kill instead of trying to find another way to solve things. Alaric wasn't afraid of getting his hands dirty, but he didn't relish in violence.

If he had to be honest Enzo reminded him too much of the Damon he had first met. The one that had not hesitated to kill him, only to sit and listen as he slowly died. Rick had forgiven Damon for that, but it didn't mean that he liked to think about that day.

Suddenly he started to feel a little dizzy. He lowered his eyes to the bottle in his hand seeing it tumble to the floor breaking upon impact. What was happening? Did he just get rufied or something? When he heard someone murmuring in a language that he recognized as Latin he turned to the left.

"Bonnie?" He slurred before fainting.

* * *

Elena was laying on the sofa in the parlor, lazily flipping the pages of her med textbook. She had expected Damon to freak out when she had told him that she wanted to become a doctor, partly because a vampire in a building with lots of blood really didn't seem like a great idea, and in part because the last Gilbert doctor had been her father and they all knew how that turned out.

However Damon had smiled that happy smile that seemed to light up a room and had congratulated her for her choice of career. He had said that if that was what she really wanted than he was happy for her. Elena smiled remembering that moment. She had thought she couldn't be more happy and he had showed her that she could thanks to a few words.

She was pulled out of her memories when her cell phone beeped, alerting her that she had just received a message. She pulled it out of her jeans' pocket and read the text from Caroline.

_The packages have been delivered._

Immediately she typed back.

_Roger, Yellow Flash. Operation OCD is about to start._

Once she had sent the message, she set her cell phone down on the coffee table and closed her eyes. She tapped in her vampire hearing and listened for any sign of Damon. She could hear the soft sound of water sloshing around in that magnificent tub of his. She knew that it would be a while before he finished, the man surely loved his baths, so she had plenty of time to set her plan in motion.

She stood up and went into the kitchen starting to pull out everything she needed to bake her cake. However her true purpose wasn't simply to bake a cake, even though now that she thought about that she really wanted to eat some, what she really wanted to do was to create such a mess in Damon's kitchen that it would take him an entire day to clean it up even if he used vamp speed. She knew that his OCD would force him to clean her mess, that was the focus of her plan.

With that in mind Elena set to work.

* * *

When Alaric finally woke up he had a headache so powerful that it seemed like someone was knocking on his head like they would on a door. When he opened his eyes he realize that someone was doing exactly that.

"Knock it off." He growled to Enzo, swatting his hand away.

Enzo sniggered while standing up. "Well someone is in a bad mood."

Alaric decided not to respond to that. Really he was already upset by the fact that someone, probably Bonnie, had drugged him. Then, as if that wasn't enough, he was now in the company of the one person that he really didn't want to spend time with.

He slowly stood up massaging the back of his head; seriously did someone stomp on it? He looked around. He was in the middle of a living room that had no furniture. It looked like they were in an abandoned house. He turned toward Enzo who was leaning on the wall to his right.

"Where are we?" He rasped clearing his throat. He really needed something to drink.

Enzo shrugged his shoulders as if he couldn't care less where they were. "I looked outside and it seems as if we are in the middle of a forest." He spoke. "My guess is that we are still within the confines of Mystic Falls."

Alaric had no idea what he was supposed to do with that information. Suddenly he furrowed his brows. Wait a minute...

"Why are you here?" He wanted to know. "I mean, why haven't you left?"

Enzo stared at him for a moment before sighing. "It seems that we can't leave this house." He reported. "I tried to leave and there is some kind of barrier that won't allow me, and I suppose you, to set foot out of here."

Alaric groaned. He knew perfectly well what was going on, the only thing he couldn't get was why? Why just the two of them were there? Why would Bonnie trap them in this abandoned house. Enzo was looking at him, waiting for him to do something. Well, what could he do?

While Enzo continued to lean against the wall Alaric started pacing around, trying to figure out what they were supposed to do the get the hell out of there. He sure as hell didn't want to spend an entire day with Enzo of all people.

After almost ten minutes spent doing absolutely nothing Alaric's cell phone beeped. He pulled it out to see who sent him a text and discovered it was Caroline. Enzo was now standing right beside him a little too close for comfort.

"What does it says?" He asked impatiently. "Maybe she will tell us what the bloody hell is happening. I'm pretty sure she was the one who broke my neck."

Alaric briefly looked at him before opening the text message.

_If you want to get out of there you will have to work out your problems with each other. Watching the two of you has been really funny but now you are seriously risking hurting someone you care about._

After they both read the text they looked at each other, unsure of what to do with the text. What was this thing she was saying? Who were they risking hurting? And what about this thing about working their problems out? They weren't some kind of troubled married couple that had to seek help to repair their relationship.

The first to break the silence was Alaric.

"Do you have any idea what this is all about?" He asked waving his cell phone in the air.

"How am I supposed to know?" Exclaimed Enzo. "I have no idea what she's going on about."

Alaric had to believe him, after all why would he be here with him if he knew what was happening? He tried to call Caroline to ask for an explanation but she didn't answer, nor did Bonnie. Frustrated he tried to call Damon to see if he could help. On the third ring he could hear someone picking up. Although it wasn't Damon.

"Hey, Rick." Said a woman's voice.

Alaric furrowed his brows. "Elena? Is that you?" He asked confused by the sudden turn of events. Enzo seemed interested in the conversation by the way he tilted his head as to better hear Elena's part of the conversation.

"Yeah, it's me. I knew you would try to call Damon so I took his phone." She said sheepishly. He bet that a shy smile was appearing on her face.

"Elena what is going on?" He wanted to know. He was really starting to freak out.

Elena took a deep breath before answering in a soft voice. "Rick I'm sorry for your current situation but you have to believe me when I say that it was necessary." She pleaded. "I know that both you and Enzo have been trying to one up each other to try and push Damon to choose one of you." She continued.

Alaric glanced at Enzo and wasn't surprised to see that the vampire was as baffled as he was.

He cleared his throat embarrassed. "I don't know what you're talking about." He tried to sound convincing but, by Enzo' scoff, he hadn't been successful.

Elena's sigh confirmed it. "I'm not as oblivious as Damon is, Rick." She said smiling. "It was really cute what the two of you were doing."

_Cute?_ Now he just felt emasculated. He could already feel warmth rising up his neck forming what was sure to be an impressive blush.

Elena went on as if she hadn't just described two adult male vampires as cute. "But now you need to stop." She said decisively. She was using the voice she always used when protecting those she loved. "I know that you and Enzo aren't exactly friends and I get it, you two are completely different people but you need to figure out how to coexist." She ordered him. "Because I don't want you to hurt him and I'm sure you don't want it either."

With that she hanged up effectively ending the conversation.

Alaric stared at the cell phone, trying to wrap his head around what he had just heard. Enzo seemed to be doing the same thing. After putting his phone back in his pocket Rick lightly drummed his hands against his thighs. He really didn't know what to do. Enzo spared him the trouble of finding something to say.

"From what I gathered the little vampire wants us to talk to each other, am I right?" Asked Enzo already knowing the answer. Alaric numbly nodded at him, hating the situation as much as Enzo did.

After a deep sigh Enzo moved to stand right in front of Rick who was already dreading what the vampire was going to say.

"So, are you ready for a heart to heart?" He grimly smirked.

Oh, how Alaric hated how this day had turned out to be.


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: here I present you the next chapter! Originally I was going to only talk about Enzo and Rick confronting each other but then I decided to talk about Elena, Damon and Caroline and Bonnie. So in conclusion I had to cut short the scene with Rick and Enzo that will continue in the following chapter!**

**As always thanks a lot to all those of you that take sometime to let me know what you think about this story, even a simple 'good job!' makes me extremely happy! **

**And of course thanks to all that simply read or put this story in the followers or favorites, you are equally amazing!**

* * *

"Are they talking yet?" Asked Bonnie for what was probably the tenth time.

"You just asked me five minutes ago, Bonnie." Huffed Caroline fed up with the situation. "No, they aren't talking yet!" She snapped.

The two of them had been keeping an eye on the abandoned house to see how things were going. When Enzo had said that they were going to have a heart to heart the two girls had hoped that everything was going to be solved fast. They should have known that nothing was ever that simple. Since those words had been spoken the two vampires had done nothing more than stare at each other. Sometimes they would open their mouth as if to say something only to close it again.

Caroline sighed and sat down near the bush behind which they were hiding. Bonnie was lazily munching on a potato chip from their stash of goods. They were closing in on the fifth hour of stake out and, by the look of things, they were going to spend at least another five hours there if Alaric or Enzo didn't decide to just say something.

"It's your turn to keep watch." Said Caroline tiredly.

Bonnie finished her potato chip, recuperated her binoculars and pointed them towards the house trying to see if there was something new. Through the window she could clearly see Enzo seating down with his back against the wall. Alaric had to be seated somewhere to his right since he kept glancing in that direction.

"Can't you do a spell or something to force them to talk?" Whined Caroline from her place cuddled up on her jacket, where she was trying to take a cat nap.

Bonnie sighed with resignation. "I can't." She murmured. "We should have thought about that earlier." She said without taking her eyes off Enzo for a second.

Caroline huffed again and moved to find a more comfortable position on the ground. This was not the way she wanted to spend her day. Why did they have to make everything so difficult? Sometimes she really couldn't understand men.

"Oh!" Exclaimed Bonnie.

Caroline jumped up immediately turning toward Bonnie. "What? What's happening? Are they finally talking?" She wanted to know.

After a second Bonnie answered. "No, false alarm. Enzo was just yawning." She said depressed.

Caroline lowered her head before pulling out her cell phone. "I better tell Elena how things are going."

* * *

_Everything still quiet. I repeat everything still quiet. No hint of movement._

Elena read the text message and couldn't help but worry. She was starting to run out of ways to distract Damon. So far everything had gone according to the plan and she couldn't be more proud of herself. To be honest she was quite enjoying herself watching Damon freak out over the mess she was creating around the house.

When he had first come down after his relaxing bath, he had almost had a heart attack once he had entered the kitchen. Elena had really outdone herself even going as far as staining the ceiling with chocolate. After twenty minutes standing by the door with his mouth gaping over, taking in the catastrophe that was formerly known as his 'kitchen', Damon had jumped into action.

He had banned Elena from his kitchen for the next whole year before reaching for his cleaning supplies. He had rolled up his sleeves and had concentrated on erasing what, and she quoted, was 'the most horrible and heartbreaking sight he ever had to witness in 173 years'. He could be such a drama queen when he wanted to, even arriving to the point of defining himself as the new Cinderella forced to clean up after the wretched people who lived in his house. Singing 'Sing, Sweet Nightingale' really didn't help.

He had spent almost two and a half hours to clean everything, mostly because he had to go and buy some white paint to re-paint the ceiling. All in all she was satisfied with the results. While he was cleaning she had moved to the second part of the plan: messing with his books in the library. She had quickly realized that he had put all his books in chronological order and then set to work.

To put everything back together he had needed another two and a half hours. Now she really didn't know what to do. Plus he was starting to get really angry. Messing so much with the delicate order he had established at the Boarding House couldn't be good for his health.

She concentrated to find a way to distract him some more that didn't involve wrecking his house. An idea came to her mind and, since she could hear him stomping in her direction with angry steps, she acted quickly. She vamp sped into the kitchen, swiftly grabbed a packet of biscuits, and then she ran as fast as she could toward their bedroom.

Once inside she closed the door hard enough to let him know where she was, as if he couldn't hear her, threw the biscuits on the bed and opened the drawer Damon had reserved for her. She had to be quick so she didn't pay too much attention to what set of lingerie she took, a black one, and put it on. She could hear him approaching the bedroom so she threw herself on the bed, turned on the television and opened her packet of biscuits. She prayed God that her plan would work.

The door flew open, revealing an angry Damon ready to let her know how upset he was over the last five hours. He was already opening his mouth to hiss his displeasure when he took into the view right in front of him. Elena was lying on their bed, dressed in only black lingerie, calmly watching the TV. He immediately forgot what he wanted to say.

"Elena, what is going on?" He asked after recovering from the emotional whiplash he was experiencing that day.

Elena turned her head to look at him as if only then noticing his presence. She had put on the most innocent look she possessed and it seemed to be working. She could see that he no longer wanted to scream like a madman and, paying attention, she saw the desire rapidly filling his eyes.

She hit him with the full power of her wide doe eyes. "I don't know what you're saying." She innocently said. "I just wanted to surprise you. Don't you like what you see?"

Damon clearly liked what he saw if his hungry stare was anything to go by. She decided to encourage him.

Exhibiting her most seductive self she sensuously murmured, "Don't you want to join me?"

Damon took the bait, just like she wanted him too. As soon as she saw him move to reach her she revealed her secret weapon. Damon's eyes widened when he saw her slowly raising a biscuit to her lips, smiling at him before happily biting down on it. He could hear his mind screaming at him to do something to stop this madness, but he could only stand there petrified watching the crumbs fall onto his Egyptian cotton sheets.

Elena internally rejoiced when she saw him immobile in the middle of the room. She knew that right now, inside of him, there was a battle to decide what he was supposed to do. She knew he wanted to have sex with her but at the same time his OCD nature wouldn't allow him to just forget about the crumbs on his sheets. Seeing his eyes moving from her to the sheets and back again Elena smiled, he could go on like this for who knew how long. 'This is way too easy'.

* * *

Enzo had never felt so bored in his entire life. The atmosphere inside the living room they both were in was reaching a tension level that had to have never been reached before. He had told Alaric that they were going to have a heart to heart but that was easier said than done. And what were they even supposed to talk about? They couldn't stand each other, period.

Alaric sighing forced him to turn to look at him. Like him he was seated on the floor with his back to the wall. He had his hands in his lap and did nothing but look around, turning toward him once in a while. However he had not uttered a single word in five hours. Something seemed to be changing now. Maybe he was tired of the silence?

"Okay this is stupid." Begun Alaric looking at him. Enzo raised an eyebrow silently telling him to go on. "We are two adults who are supposed to be talking right now so, since you clearly have no intention to, I'm gonna talk." He stated waiting for Enzo to say something.

Enzo cleared his throat and said, "By all means, mate." Anything to put an end to this awkwardness.

"I don't like you." Rick brutally said. "You are reckless, childish, borderline psychotic and you think violence is the answer to everything." He continued. "Well guess what, _mate_. It isn't."

Enzo was momentarily speechless. Granted he already knew that Alaric probably thought something like that about him, but still...he had been so brutal. He opened his mouth to answer back but he was interrupted.

"Oh and I don't like your perpetual smirk." Added Alaric with a smile.

Enzo's mouth audibly shut with a 'pop'. What was wrong with his smirk? Women seemed to like it. Caroline always rolled her eyes when he smirked but he could see in her eyes that she really didn't mind it so much. He bet she was actually fond of it. He shook his head, now wasn't the time to think about Caroline. He stared at Alaric who was smugly smiling at him. So he wanted to play it this way, uh?

"Well, Alaric." He started ready to let him know what he thought about him. "Since we seem to be in a sharing mood I'll tell you that I really can't stand your sanctimonious attitude, your hypocrisy and the unbearable way in which you seem to obsess about history." By the end of it he was practically screaming.

Alaric jumped to his feet, now he really had had enough of him. "I'm a history teacher of course I like history and that is called being passionate not obsessed!" He shouted back at him. "And what the hell do you mean with hypocrisy? How am I a hypocrite?"

Enzo stood up to be face to face with him or face to neck since Alaric was taller than him. Bloody giant. "You're a hypocrite because you always try to pass yourself as peaceful but I know you're capable of some violent shit!" He barked. "And don't try to deny it." He said raising his finger.

Alaric was by now balling his hands into fists. "The fact that I'm capable of killing someone doesn't mean that I relish in it." He hissed moving closer to Enzo. "That's why you're a psychopath and I'm a normal, stable man." He stated.

Enzo barked a laugh. "If you're a stable man than pigs can fly!" He was beginning to like where this was going, he could finally say everything he thought.

"Why don't I make you fly out the window so you'll see that pigs can actually fly?" Growled Rick a second away from turning his threat into reality.

"You can't because we are stuck in here, dumb ass." Retorted Enzo pushing against Alaric's chest to provoke him.

Rick looked down at his chest while raising his arms. "Did you just push me?" He asked as if he couldn't believe Enzo would actually fall down to such childish means.

"That's exactly what I did. What are you gonna do about it? Write me a book about the history of provocations during the centuries?" He joked pushing him again.

Alaric stared at him seeing red. Maybe it was the fact that he really couldn't stand him anymore or maybe it was the fact that when he got agitated, thanks to his new vampire status, his emotions tended to run wild. The fact remained that he just couldn't stop anymore.

"Now you've done it." He said with a throaty voice before pushing Enzo with so much strength that he ended up going through the wall landing in the hallway.

Now he was going to kick his ass.


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: here we are again for another chapter of this story! I don't have much to say except that I'm so grateful for all the reviews, the follows and the favorites. I really didn't expect my first story to do so well, so thank you!**

**Also we only have to resist for a week before we can finally watch the sixth season of TVD!**

* * *

"Shouldn't we stop them?" Asked Bonnie concerned about what she was seeing.

Caroline took a moment to think about it before answering. "Nah, they're men." She explained. "Sometimes men just need to get it out of their system, you know?" At least she thought so.

Bonnie didn't seem convinced. "Are you sure?" She asked sceptically, from the little she could see thanks to her binoculars things didn't look so good.

Caroline was about to answer when a loud noise interrupted her. It looked like Alaric had used one of the beams inside the walls like a club. When he had swung it to hit Enzo it had broke coming into contact with his head. Maybe things were getting kind of out of control.

"Yeah, I don't think we should intervene." Grimaced Caroline watching Enzo stand up shaking his head to clear it. "Besides it's not like they can get killed." She tried to sound sure of it.

"Alaric can't get killed, Enzo on the other end..." Bonnie trailed off too caught up in the scene she was observing. Enzo had ran toward Alaric at vamp speed tackling him to the ground with a resounding slam. "Although he doesn't seem too concerned about that." Said Bonnie.

* * *

Enzo was straddling Alaric trying, and failing, to pin him to the floor. Trying to restrain him was like trying to stop an avalanche with nothing but your bare hands. Why did he have to come back to life as a bloody Original vampire?

Just when he thought he had succeeded in his intent Alaric rolled to the right, inverting their position. Now he was the one doing the restraining. Rick was a bit surprised by his own strength. He knew he was a lot stronger then the others, but this was the first time he had had the occasion to test how much stronger he was. Enzo was by no means weak nor inexperienced when it came to fighting, yet Alaric didn't need to use even half of his strength. It was unsettling to say the least.

With a skilful contortion Enzo was able to once again end up on top. Alaric might be stronger than him, but his smaller build gave him an advantage when it came to rapid movements. He had to find a way to stop his movements thou. As skilled as he was, Enzo couldn't go on fighting forever while, if the way Alaric was trashing like an angry bull was any indication, his opponent easily could.

They had been going at it for half an hour already and the house already seemed on the brink of total destruction. There where several holes in the walls, something that made Enzo grimace since he had been the unfortunate soul passing through them. The roof wasn't doing any better thanks to Enzo who had sent Alaric flying through it.

Distracted by his thoughts he didn't notice Alaric's knee swinging up catching him right in the family jewels. With an undignified shriek he rolled off cupping his crotch to try an protect it from further attacks.

"Bloody hell!" He screamed in a high pitched voice. "That was a low blow in every possible sense of the word!" He moaned in pain.

Alaric seemed embarrassed. It certainly hadn't been his intention to knee him in the nuts. That wasn't the way a fight between men went. He could feel his cheeks getting warm with what was surely an impressive blush.

"I didn't do it on purpose." He panted trying to defend himself. "You were trying to choke me and I reacted."

Enzo found the strength to roll his eyes. "You don't even need to breathe." He said in a strangled whimper.

Alaric grimaced seeing the obvious pain etched in Enzo's face. He never thought he'd reached this point but he was feeling kinda guilty for his unintentional low blow. This wasn't how things were supposed to go! They had to fight this thing out or they would never reach an agreement on the Damon front.

Trying to catch his breath after the intense fighting, Alaric sat down next to Enzo who had finally stopped moaning and was now lying limply on the floor. Their gazes met and they both realized that if they really wanted to be friends with Damon, they had to find some sort of compromise between the two of them.

Alaric decided it was time to say something. "Sorry for...uh...hitting you where the sun never shines." He stuttered with effort.

Enzo raised his eyebrow, a little surprised by Alaric's genuine remorse. He swallowed the innuendo that wanted to come out and said, "It's alright, mate. This is not the worst thing a...friend has done to me." He had to physically force himself to refer to Alaric as a friend but in the end he actually did it.

Rick needed a moment to collect himself after the F-word dropped so carelessly on him. When he could finally think normally he had to ask a question, no matter how indelicate it might have been.

"What do you mean 'not the worst thing'?" He asked in a soft voice.

Enzo knew he had set himself up for that question so, after a deep breath, he answered, "Damon left me to burn alive the night we were supposed to escape from the Augustine." He said all in one breath.

A heavy silence settled on the room. Enzo had forgiven Damon for what he had done because really, maybe if the roles had been reversed he would have done the exact same thing to avoid going back to the labs. Still, it wasn't easy to talk about that moment and for the life of him he couldn't understand why he was saying these things to Alaric of all people.

"If it makes you feel any better he actually killed me the first time we were alone." Said Alaric to try and lighten the mood.

Enzo immediately turned his head to look at him. "Are you pulling my leg?" He wanted to know.

Alaric lightly smiled and shook his head. "To be fair I was the one who tried to kill him first for killing my wife." He felt the need to be precise.

Enzo couldn't believe it. Maybe they had something in common, they both had had a rocky start with Damon.

"Sorry for you wife." He apologized. He really couldn't say that he cared for his wife but it was the right thing to do, right? Express your condolences for someone's loss.

"He didn't kill her, actually." Said Rick as if that was some sort of normal conversation. "He slept with her and then he turned her into a vampire, but he didn't kill her. She committed suicide." Stated Rick, suddenly frowning. "Although she had been compelled by Klaus so..." He trailed off not sure how to finish.

Enzo didn't know whether to laugh or to doubt what he was hearing. This story was so messed up! How could it be possible for something like that to actually happen? He breathed a laugh thinking of the absurd situation he was finding himself in: here he was talking calmly with a man that was supposed to be his enemy. Things were really weird in this town.

When he stopped his quiet laugh he asked, "Why did you become friend with him, if he turned your wife and killed you?" He asked in disbelief.

Alaric shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know." He simply stated. "I guess for the same reason you became friend with him." He said looking Enzo in the eye. "There was something incredibly human in him that made me think we were kindred spirits."

Enzo thought about that. When Damon had been captured by the Augustine society he had already been alone for ten years. Seeing a new face had been such a relief. But it was true that something in Damon had called out to him. Maybe it had been the bad boy façade that he liked to wear to hid his true feelings, or maybe the loneliness so similar to his own that he had felt coming out of him. No matter what it had been, Alaric was right. He had seen in him a kindred spirit.

Once again silence enveloped the room, but it was a different kind of silence. Now the two vampires understood each other a little more. They weren't friends, much more than ten minutes conversation was needed to reach that point, but now they could actually try to bear with each other.

This time the silence was interrupted by a feminine voice.

"Have you guys made peace?"

The two vampires turned toward the door to see Caroline and Bonnie standing just outside of the entrance, looking uncertain and kind of hopeful.

Alaric sighed. "I knew it had to have been you, Bonnie." He smiled.

Bonnie smiled sheepishly back at him. "Sorry, but Elena called for an emergency meeting and I couldn't refuse."

Caroline interrupted their conversation huffing in annoyance. "Alright, we've been keeping an eye on you for the past six and a half hours." She begun clearly tired and in dire need of a shower. "Now all you need to do is tell us if you're going to stop with this nonsense about who is Damon's best friend."

Alaric and Enzo shared a look, trying to see if they were on the same page about what they needed to do. They nodded to each other and then Enzo turned to answer Caroline's question.

"We aren't friends as of right now, that goes without saying, but we think we can stand each other if it's needed." He said in a reasonable way, not hiding the fact that things weren't resolved simply because they were now talking like adults instead of behaving like children.

Caroline beamed at them ready to jump up and down from joy, now that things seemed to be going better. Before she could start with her celebrations Alaric intervened.

"However," he spoke slightly raising his voice to catch the bubbly blonde's attention, "we still need to know who Damon would choose to be his best friend." He concluded with a serious expression that left no room for arguments.

Bonnie and Caroline couldn't believe what they were hearing. Were they being serious?

"You're kidding me, right?" Growled Caroline on the verge of a mental breakdown. "You are telling me that you still want to go on with this stupid competition?"

Enzo threw an unapologetic smirk in her direction. "Sorry, gorgeous. It's a matter of principles, we have to know who is the first choice." Alaric nodded along totally agreeing with the older vampire.

Caroline closed her eyes mentally counting to ten before saying anything that she might regret. Bonnie looked at her friend, aware of the state of being of the young vampire, and decided to intervene to avoid the impending apocalypse.

She pulled out her cellphone and called Elena to hear from her what she wanted to do. After a minute her friend answered the phone.

"Yeah, Elena it's me." She said on the phone. "We might have a problem here."

* * *

Warmth. That's about all Elena could feel. After Damon had come to a decision, sex like always when he had to choose, they had spent the best hour of the entire day in her opinion. Now she was all bundled up under the covers of their bed with the television softly transmitting some kind of reality show in the background. The best part however was having Damon wrapped around her like a giant koala bear.

She could have stayed like that for the rest of her life. In the tranquility of the room, interrupted once in a while by Damon's cute little snores, she wondered how things were going with Alaric and Enzo. She hoped they had reached an agreement, a compromise or something. She knew she couldn't expect them to become friends in a day, but maybe they could start taking little steps in that direction.

She wondered why it was so difficult for them to become friends. Yeah they were different like night and day but they both had managed to become friends with a man that had killed one of them, and left the other to die in a fire. So, really, what was so difficult now?

Elena softly sighed, the raising of her chest causing Damon to tighten his hold on her by dragging her even closer to his body. It seemed it wasn't enough thou, because he also curled the leg he had thrown over hers essentially anchoring her to his body.

The vibrations from her cell phone made her come back to the present. She stretched out as far as she possibly could and, after a little wiggle of her fingers, she was able to grab her phone and answer. What Bonnie had to say to her made her frown her eyebrows. It seemed it was necessary to use Plan B. She would have to think of something else for Damon's birthday, this was an emergency.

With a sigh she hanged up on Bonnie after telling her not to release the two vampires until she said so. Putting her phone on the nightstand she realized she had to wake Damon. Things had been going on for way too long.

She had a lot of explaining to do.


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: Here is the ninth chapter all for you! This said I need to warn you: there will be another chapter after this and maybe an epilogue, but then this story will have to end. I had at first decided that I wanted this story to have max 5 chapters, if I got this far is only thanks to your support, so I guess you have to congratulate yourselves!**

**Don't worry I already have ideas for other stories so this won't be the last you heard of me!**

**PS: tomorrow is TVD day! Tough since I'm from Italy I will have to wait for Friday to watch the episode : (**

* * *

"So what you're trying to say is that Enzo and Rick have been competing against each other to make me choose who's my best friend?" Damon asked doubtfully to Elena who was currently perched behind him on his new motorbike.

For the past thirty minutes or so, Elena had been explaining to him everything that had happened during the last few weeks, finally shedding some light on his friends weird behavior. She had to admit that maybe it hadn't been the best idea telling him everything while he was driving, but she had the feeling that it was best to get on the road to go to their friends quickly. If Rick and Enzo were forced to spend more time stuck in that house they might end up killing each other. For good.

So here they were, driving on a road in the middle of Mystic Falls's forest. She had to say that she was amazed by how well Damon was taking the news. He had kept his driving steady while he listened to her, vamp hearing really had its perks allowing her to talk without having to shout over the motorbike's engine, and he hadn't interrupted her. Not a single time.

She had been sure that he was at least going to intervene once in a while to let her know how absurd were the things she was saying, instead he had remained completely silent. At least until now.

"That's exactly what I'm saying." She answered, relieved that he was at least talking. For a moment she had thought he had gone into shock or something.

Once again Damon fell into silence. She didn't push the issue knowing that he needed time to think about what he had just learned. It was normal to be at least a little bit thrown off by such news. Plus Damon tended to underestimate himself when it came to his personal relationships, always thinking of himself as a lost cause.

After ten minutes of nothing but the rumbling of the motorbike, Elena decided to say something to asses the situation.

"A penny for your thoughts?" She lightly said, trying to let him know that this wasn't the kind of situation that had to be treated as a crisis. It was just something that happened in everyday life.

Damon cleared is throat before answering. "Are you sure this is what has been going on?" He asked, once again feeling insecure. "I mean, it doesn't sound like something they would do." _Not over me_, was left unsaid but Elena heard him anyway.

She tightened the hold she had on his hips. "I am pretty sure, Damon." She stated with determination. "If you don't believe me you can ask Caroline and Bonnie, they know what's been going on."

"Wait a second." He spoke. "Blondie and Judgy are in on this too?" He sounded kind of upset by the, again, unexpected news.

Elena grimaced. "If it makes you feel better Jeremy, Matt and Tyler don't know anything." She shyly attempted to sooth him.

"Great." He mumbled. "And you didn't think I needed to be made aware of the situation?" There was a hint of accusation in his voice and Elena knew she had to thread carefully. One wrong word and he would feel humiliated, like they had wanted to simply have a laugh at his expenses.

"Look," she started calmly "when you told me that they were behaving strangely I admit that I wanted to know the reason for their weird behavior. So I called Bonnie and Caroline to help me find out what was going on. When I finally got it I thought it was going to be fun watching how they fought over you without you even noticing. But," she said quickly when she felt him tense beneath her hands, "I didn't choose to not say anything to you because I wanted to laugh at you." She kindly said with a soft voice. "I hoped that if things went on for a while, maybe you would understand what they were trying to do."

When she felt him relax a bit she decided to go for the killing blow, hoping that he wouldn't get too scared by what she was saying.

Encircling his waist with her arms she said, "I wanted you to see that there are people that love you, Damon. I wanted you to know that you're not considered the bad guy anymore, that you're as much part of our weird family as I am." She had to make him understand. "And yeah, maybe Rick and Enzo are behaving like children on this, but they're only doing it because they care so much about you that they each want the honor of being you best friend."

After her little speech she remained silent, letting him consider what she had just said. She knew that it was hard for him to understand that. A century and a half wasted waiting for a woman that never loved him, a father that thought of him as nothing more than a disappointment and a brother that unknowingly helped cementing the idea that he was the bad brother didn't help.

She knew that she had played her part in reinforcing his insecurities, but know she had all the time in the world to help him overcome them. She could show him that all those people had been wrong when judging him. And she'd be damned if she let anyone, including Damon himself, convince him again that he wasn't worthy of love.

After a while, Damon softly said, "What am I supposed to do then?" He said with maybe a little hint of fear. He didn't want to choose, he had already said that.

She gently hugged him. "Well, if you are willing to trust me I may have a plan to set everything alright." She smiled.

"I always trust you." He immediately replied in a strong voice.

"Then you have nothing to worry about." She echoed the same words he had said to her all that time ago.

* * *

"How long are we supposed to stay here, witch?" Inquired Enzo starting to feel restless. He wasn't fond of staying trapped in the same place for long periods of time.

Bonnie sighed heavily, just like she had done countless times before since her phone call to Elena, and turned toward him leaning on the doorway without entering the house. She was so tired of having to repeat herself over and over again just because he was impatient.

"Maybe you didn't understand me the first twenty times I answered that question." She growled really sick of the situation. "Elena said not to let you leave until she said so. I can only imagine that she's on her way here, so you'll be able to harass her instead of me." She finished almost shouting.

Caroline regarded her warily, almost waiting for her to set Enzo on fire. She knew that Bonnie, despite her calm appearance most of the time, was not someone to be messed with. It would have been fun though to see how Enzo would react to her brain-thingy, she thought with a small smile.

Enzo stared angrily at Bonnie, clenching his hands into fists wanting nothing more than to wring her little neck until it snapped. Why couldn't she just lift her spell so he could finally be alone for a while? He had already had to bear spending an entire day in the company of Alaric the Vampire Professor, now he had to just wait here in the company of a judgy witch and a gorgeous blonde that seemed intent on ignoring him?

He turned toward Alaric — who was sitting on the ground resting his back against the staircase that led to the second floor just a bit to the right of the entrance — raising his eyebrow disbelieving.

"Aren't you gonna say something?" He wanted to know. "Last time I checked you weren't so fond of my presence."

Alaric didn't even turn to look at him, preferring to continue staring at the ceiling. "I still want to kick your ass and if you don't stop talking, believe me, I will." He muttered with an apathetic voice. "But to answer your question, no I wont say anything. I will just wait here for Elena and probably Damon to arrive."

Enzo clicked his tongue and stomped into the living room, too fed up to remain in their presence. Caroline watched him go with a smile.

"That was cool, Alaric." She beamed at him, implicitly thanking him for the much needed silence that Enzo's disappearance granted them.

Alaric slightly smiled in return. "You're welcome." He said in a low voice. "You see what I had to deal with?"

"Well you better be prepared then." Intervened Bonnie looking straight at him. "When Elena gets here you can be sure that she won't let you go until she's satisfied with the progress you and Enzo will make."

Alaric grimaced, knowing all too well that Bonnie was right. When Elena wanted something she usually got it, especially if that something involved people she cared about. Since their situation involved Damon he was sure things weren't over yet.

After another twenty minutes spent in blissful silence, they finally heard the distant sound of a motorbike's engine.

"They're here." Said Caroline for Bonnie's benefit since she was the only non-vampire there.

When they finally appeared on the barely there road that lead to the house, Enzo joined them again in the entrance while Alaric stood up and planted himself to the left of Enzo. The two briefly looked at each other before staring ahead of them at two figures who were approaching the house.

Once in front of them Elena and Damon quickly exchanged greeting with Bonnie and Caroline before turning toward the two vampire inside the house. A tense silence descended upon the presents. Damon was the one who decided to talk first.

"You two are idiots." He deadpanned looking at them. "What's this absurdity of competing to choose who's my best friend?" He asked with a disbelieving voice. He was still getting used to the notion himself.

Alaric immediately jumped at the opportunity to defend himself. "It was Enzo's idea, not mine." He quickly said.

Enzo immediately turned toward the treacherous vampire standing by his side. "Excuse me?" He exclaimed. "I didn't hear you say anything against it, in fact I distinctly remember you agreeing with me." He countered with a smug smile.

"Yeah well, if you had just backed off like I told you to we wouldn't be in this mess now." Alaric immediately reacted at the accusation.

"Right, so you could turn Damon into some kind of bloody pacifist who lives in Rainbowland were unicorns and leprechauns live together in peace." Joked Enzo trying to get a rise out of the younger vampire.

Easy to say he succeeded since Alaric immediately raised his hands as if wanting to wrap them around his neck. "You little..." He started, only to get interrupted by a woman's voice.

"Enough!" Shouted Elena, thereby stopping Alaric in his quest for vengeance.

Everyone turned to look at her, including Damon who had been looking at his friend wondering how he could have missed what was happening, since the two of them had been behaving like this for quite sometime now.

Once she was sure everyone was paying attention to her she finally decided to speak. "This ends now. You two are behaving like children and frankly the situation, while funny in the beginning, had escalated quickly." She stated. "So now it's time for Plan B."

Caroline jumped up at the opportunity to intervene. "You mean you want to use the thing?" She asked excitedly, unable to contain herself.

Elena turned to her friend with a smile. "It seems like I have no choice." She said.

"Ehm."

Their attention was directed to Damon who had raised his hand as if asking for permission to talk.

"Can someone please explain to me what this Plan B is?" He inquired, feeling the need to be in the loop after weeks of unforgivable obliviousness.

Alaric and Enzo both nodded completely agreeing with their friend, looking at each other when they noticed that they had moved in perfect synchronization only to roll their eyes and focus on Elena.

The brunette softly sighed staring at Damon. "This is where the trust part comes in." She kindly said. "I just need you, all three of you, to trust me and do as I say."

Both Damon and Alaric felt inclined to do as she said, knowing that she would never do anything horrible to them. Enzo though was another matter altogether.

"And why would I trust you?" He suspiciously asked.

"Because one: I won't let you out of here if you don't." She said raising one finger to enumerate her points. "Two: it's the only way for this competition to reach an end. And third: I'm not asking you, I am ordering you to do this."

Enzo clenched his fists and reluctantly nodded, noticing the smiles on Damon and Alaric's faces.

"Good, then you two will meet with me and Damon tomorrow morning at 10 AM at the Boarding House." She commanded.

That said she nodded in Bonnie's direction to let her know she could lift the spell, reached for Damon's hand and started to steer him in the direction of his bike, wanting to go home.

They had a long day ahead of them.


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: so...I misjudged once again the length of this chapter and I had to split it in two. Good news is you get another chapter and an epilogue! Also, I know that this ends with an evil cliffhanger, but it was necessary to stop there, otherwise this chapter would have become incredibly long.**

**Now I just want to say that I freakingly loved the first episode of TVD and, while I don't necessarily like the way they're going with this compulsion thing, I have faith in Delena so I decided not to worry!**

* * *

"Are you going to tell me what's your so called 'Plan B'?" Asked Damon patiently while pouring himself a drink from the decanter.

He and Elena were in the parlor of the Boarding House, waiting for Enzo and Rick to arrive. After leaving the abandoned house the previous evening, they had gone back home leaving the others to do whatever it was they wanted to do. Once they had stopped at the Boarding House, Elena had immediately made a call to arrange things for the following day.

Damon had decided against eavesdropping her conversation since it was clear she wanted things to remain quiet until she deemed the moment right. He had, however, tried asking her if she wanted to give him a little hint about her plan. After a few moments in which Elena had considered his question, she had only said 'It involves something that you'll love'.

Needless to say, Damon had spent the rest of the evening and great part of the night thinking about what she could have possibly meant. He couldn't reach a plausible conclusion since he continuously got distracted by one simple thought: his two best friends had spent the last few weeks fighting for his attention.

He wasn't sure how to feel about that. Was he supposed to feel annoyed that they wanted him to choose? He thought his behavior had clearly demonstrated that he considered both of them to be his best friends. Maybe he should feel elated? He had never had a lot of friends, not even when he was human. Sure, he had a lot of guys with whom he liked to pass his free time, but he had never met someone like Enzo or Rick.

At first, he had been doubtful. He simply couldn't believe that someone would want to be considered his first choice when it came to friends. But then he had started to feel, dare he say it, happy. It was great knowing that they both cared so much about him. Maybe Elena was right. Maybe now that things had finally gone back to normal, he could start a new life with the love of his life and his two friends. Which brought him back to that morning.

"I already told you." Smiled Elena. "You'll know what my plan is when it's time." She said, sitting down on the sofa.

Damon finished pouring himself, and her, a drink and moved to sit beside her. Elena reached out for her drink and smiled softly at him before taking a sip. She slightly grimaced when the alcohol went down her throat, burning all the way down. How he managed to guzzle down industrial quantities of that thing she didn't know.

Damon smugly smirked noticing her reaction. He liked that she had gained sort of an acquired taste for Bourbon, but it still made him laugh seeing her scrunch up her cute little nose. God, he was totally whipped. A couple of years ago, he would have felt ridiculous for even thinking the word 'cute', now it was just part of his everyday life.

He suddenly realized that this is what he had been searching all along. Domesticity, love, acceptance. He liked that he knew that when Elena woke up in the morning she didn't like to talk, she preferred to 'speak' through actions. A subtle caress here, a nudge there. He loved knowing that when she furrowed her brows while reading her textbook, it was because sometimes human anatomy simply disgusted her.

"Why are you so sure that whatever you have planned will make the three of us 'besties'?" Wanted to know Damon finishing his drink and putting it down on the coffee table.

Elena took another sip and cradled her tumbler between her hands, as if what she was holding wasn't Bourbon but a cup of hot chocolate. "First of all don't say 'besties', it sounds unnatural coming out of your mouth." She started with an exaggerated shiver at the word 'besties'. "Second of all, it's a gut feeling." She finished with shrug.

Damon looked at her trying to gauge her seriousness. "And you're willing to risk everything on a gut feeling?" He was amazed. "That sounds awfully like something I would do."

Elena smiled proudly. "Maybe you rubbed off on me."

Damon moved closer to her on the sofa and whispered against her lips, "Really, and what else did I rub off on you?"

Elena closed the distance between the two of them, fully kissing him on the lips. Oh, how she enjoyed kissing him. For so many months she had believed that this moment would have never come again. She would never take these little gestures for granted, ever again.

Just when things were getting heavy and Damon was starting to gently push her down on the sofa, a voice interrupted them. A voice with a distinct British accent.

"Don't stop on my account, you two." Chimed Enzo in the silence of the parlor.

Damon and Elena immediately separated turning to look at the just arrived vampire. They couldn't help but be surprised when they saw an embarrassed looking Alaric by his side. Damon immediately rose to go greet his friends, while Elena put down her tumbler on the coffee table and tried to comb her hair with her fingers.

"Is it too much to ask to knock before entering?" Inquired Damon, irked that his fun time with Elena had been interrupted so soon.

Alaric cleared his throat before answering. "We did knock, but apparently you were too distracted to hear it."

"Clearly." Added Enzo wiggling his eyebrow up and down with malice shining in his eyes.

Before they could start a back and forth of innuendos Elena decided to intervene.

"So are you ready to go ahead with Plan B?" She happily asked.

The three men turned toward her, clearly interested in what they were supposed to be doing.

"Are you ready to tell us what the bloody hell are we doing here?" Fired back Enzo still a bit upset by the fact that he had been blackmailed in this...whatever the hell it was.

Elena decided to ignore him without so much as batting an eye. She moved to exit the Boarding House leaving them with no choice but to follow her outside. Once in the open air, Elena moved toward her SUV tailed by the three vampires. Once stopping by it, she turned to them and, with her hand, gestured for them to climb inside it.

"We are going on a road trip?" Asked Damon not sure of where she was going with this.

"Something like that." She answered. "Don't worry we just have to drive for a while until we reach our destination. Once we get there everything will be clear." That said, she pushed a button on her car keys and with a click the doors of the SUV unlocked.

She climbed inside the driver side since she was the only one who knew where they had to drive. The three men looked at each other, one more confused than the others. None of them had any idea what was going to happen. Suddenly the silence was broken by Damon's voice.

"Shotgun!" He exclaimed before dashing for the door on the passenger side.

"Oh come on!" Yelled Alaric, while Enzo shook his head. He was going to stake his claim on the passenger side, but had been played by Damon.

When nothing but Damon's laugh could be heard, Alaric tried again. "Damon, you know I get carsick in the back seat." Enzo turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow.

"It's not my problem." Smugly said Damon. "It's Enzo's." He added, throwing a smile at said vampire.

Grumbling under his breath Alaric stomped over to the car and climbed inside. Enzo begrudgingly followed him climbing in by the other side of the car. Once inside Alaric's build proved to be some sort of a problem, mostly because he had taken the seat behind Damon, who clearly had no intention of moving forward since he liked to stretch his legs when he wasn't driving.

When Alaric tried to move a little to the left, he inadvertently stepped on Enzo's foot.

"Hey, that was my foot!" Immediately barked Enzo shoving Alaric on the shoulder to push him back.

Alaric growled low in the back of his throat swatting his hand away. "Stop shoving me, dammit!"

"It's your fault for trespassing on my side of the car." Swiftly replied Enzo getting back to shoving him away.

Alaric gritted his teeth trying to reign in his anger. "Not everyone is pocket-size like you!"

"What did you just call me you bloody giant?" Screeched Enzo offended by Alaric's remark on his height. "Need I remind you that I'm just a couple of inches shorter than Damon? You're offending him too!"

Fed up with his continued attempt at shoving him away Alaric decided to retaliate. With one mighty shove, he sent Enzo banging against the door on his side of the car. However, having misjudged his strength, the force behind his shove almost made him fly off the car taking the door with him.

"Stop it immediately!" Shouted Elena from her seat behind the wheel.

At first she had simply ignored the two bantering men in the back. They didn't have to go that far so she thought she could simply pretend that two grown men weren't shoving each other around over such a stupid thing. She had to admit that hearing Alaric complain about his discomfort and seeing him seated with his knees almost up to his throat for lack of space, was quite hilarious.

What wasn't hilarious was the shove that had sent Enzo against the side of the car, making her swerve dangerously into the other lane in a storm of screeching tires and resounding horns. She knew that a car accident couldn't kill her, but she still didn't want to end up in a wreck against a tree just because Alaric couldn't control himself.

After her shout silence had descended on the car. Everyone was looking at her, even Enzo while massaging his shoulder with a grimace. Elena stopped the car on the side of the road and turned to look at the two men in the back.

She pointed a threatening finger at them. "You two better stop this nonsense right now or, so help me God, I will spank you like the children you evidently are!" She said in a commanding voice throwing an icy glare at Enzo, daring him to make an innuendo.

Rick and Enzo rapidly nodded in her direction, looking at her with wide eyes. Elena sighed and started the car again.

The rest of the road passed in silence, except for the songs softly coming out of the radio. After about twenty minutes Elena took a right that led them in the middle of the forest toward what looked like an abandoned barn. What as an abandoned barn doing in the middle of nowhere, no one dared to ask.

Elena parked the car and got off, silently followed by the other three. The barn, while abandoned, was well kept almost as if someone had just finished working on renovating it. A locket kept the doors of the barn from being opened by anyone. Just to the right of the structure, there were the remains of what must have been the main building. Whoever owned the barn had little interest in keeping that building in good conditions.

"Elena, what are we doing here exactly?" Asked Alaric closing the door of the car behind him. "You're not thinking of trapping us in there, right?"

Elena sighed. "While I'm tempted, especially after that little scene in the back of the car, that's not what I intend to do." She said inserting the key in the locket and opening it, but keeping closed the doors of the barn. Putting the key back in her pocket, she turned to look at them. "I figured that what you three need is a bonding experience."

"And being here is a bonding experience why?" Asked Enzo, still not understanding. Damon in the meantime decided to simply listen to what his girlfriend had to say. If there was one thing he knew, was to not rush her.

"I thought about something that could be of interest for all the three of you." She explained. "Since going on a murdering spree is not Alaric's way of doing things, nor is it mine, I went for the classic male bonding experience." She continued moving her gaze from Damon to Enzo to Alaric.

"Which is?" Wanted to know Alaric. The waiting was killing him.

Elena bit her lower lip and looked at Damon. "I wanted to keep this as a surprise for your birthday, when I had finished working on it." She shyly said. "I always knew that you would come back and I figured that, since I'm not that great at these sorts of things, I would need a lot of time to prepare everything."

At this Damon cocked his head to the side furrowing his brows. What was she talking about?

Elena went on with her speech. "However, it's clear that you guys need this so I will have to find something else or your birthday."

Once she finished what she had to say she turned and grabbed the handles to open the doors. When she stepped aside to let them see what was inside, the three of them gasped.

"My Baby." Whispered Damon gazing lovingly at the remains of his most prized possession.


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: I'm really sorry I didn't upload this chapter yesterday like I wanted to, but I had a bit of trouble writing this one. The words just didn't want to come out right. I hope I did okay and that you enjoy the way I had things go on. Like always I want to thank all of you: reviewers, both anonymous and not, and everyone else.**

**PS: anyone else cried like a baby watching 6x02? I know I've been traumatized. Fear not however! My faith in Delena has not vanished, we'll just have to steel ourselves for a lot of angst.**

* * *

Damon could not believe his eyes. She was right in front of him. His Baby. The only constant in his life for the past fifty-something years.

"How?" He rasped with what little voice he had at the moment.

Elena looked sheepishly at him, as if embarrassed. "After you..." she gulped, still uncomfortable with the word "...died, I had no idea what to do." She whispered with eyes filled with tears.

Damon, noticing this, walked up to her and tightly gripped her hand. When she raised her head and looked him in the eye, he smiled at her reassuringly. He was here now, and while he couldn't erase the pain she had felt for those four months, he could promise her that nothing would ever divide them.

She took a deep breath before going on with her story. "I couldn't go back to the Boarding House and I had nothing of yours to hold on to." She said squeezing his hand. "Matt brought me some of your things but they weren't enough. Nothing was enough. After a while I realized that I needed something that would last longer."

"So that's why you wanted to talk to Caroline's mother." Intervened Alaric, as if only now remembering that strange phone call. Enzo, meanwhile, just stood there witnessing the scene. He had never stopped to think that others might have suffered because of Damon's death. Maybe because he had immediately started searching a way for him to come back.

Elena sniffed and looked at Alaric. "I asked Caroline's mom if she could bring me the Camaro." She threw a look at what remained of the car. "It was a total wreck, obviously." She murmured before turning to Damon. "I started reading books to learn how to repair a car. It wasn't easy but in a month I found all the pieces I needed." She gestured toward the boxes neatly piled in the back of the barn. "They are all originals."

Damon looked at her in adoration. He couldn't believe what she had done. "You are amazing." He softly said.

Elena smiled at him. "Yeah, well," she shrugged "I didn't do much. I had the body of the car re-painted so it was back to its original light blue and I started working on the interiors."

The three men looked at the car to see that, in fact, it had been re-painted and the seats looked brand new, as did the wheel and the dashboard. They would need to take out the seats again if they had to work on the insides but Elena probably hadn't thought of that. It didn't matter though, they would just have to start over.

"So that's it." Concluded Elena looking at the three men. "I really wanted to give it back to you in one piece, but I think that maybe you three can work on it together and, you know, bond over it." She said with a bright smile, moving past the doom and gloom as Damon would say.

Enzo and Alaric looked at each other dubiously, assessing the situation to try and see if Elena's plan could work. They weren't sure it would but they were at least willing to give it a try. Furthermore Enzo had always loved sport-cars and this Camaro was just a beauty. He could already picture him and Damon riding around with the top down. Of course Damon would probably insist on Alaric tugging along but, whatever, nothing was perfect.

Damon looked at his two friends and decided that no matter what he was going to make this work. He was not about to lose one of them. He hardly had any friends so he figured he should do everything he could to make sure the three of them could stay together. He smiled at Elena.

"Don't worry, we'll figure this out." He said winking at her.

Elena smiled and after pecking him on the lips, she left leaving the three vampires to work on the Camaro.

"So," Alaric cleared his throat to break the silence "how are we going to do this?"

* * *

After three hours they could say that a lot had been done. They had taken out the seats, no one wanted to ruin them while working, and opened the boxes on the back of the barn to start working on the electronic parts of the car. Thanks to Alaric's strength they had lifted the car to put the tires back in their place so now the Camaro looked almost as good as new. Except for the engine.

Currently Enzo was up to the elbows in the engine to put it in the right place. He had decided he wanted to be the one to connect it so that they could start the car, since Alaric knew almost nothing about engines. Damon, in the meantime, was almost invisible from his place under the car, checking the breaks. He surely didn't want to repair the car only to end up wrapped around a tree when he realized he had no way to stop.

A click could be heard around Enzo's hands when he finally finished positioning the engine. He took his hands out of the hood and wiped them on a rag nearby. He turned toward Alaric who was lazily sitting on top of a box while sipping from the bottle of beer he had purchased in a town nearby before setting to work.

"Are you going to help us or do you intend to stay there doing absolutely nothing?" Asked Enzo mildly upset.

Alaric regarded him with a serene expression. "I'm a history professor." He said as if that was all he needed to say. At Enzo's confused look he went on. "Apart from driving them I know nothing about cars or how to repair them."

"So what you are saying is that you're completely useless?" Smirked Enzo grabbing a bottle of beer and opening it.

Alaric glared in his direction. "I didn't hear you complaining when you asked me to lift the car. Alone." He pointed out testily.

Enzo grinned while sipping his beer before raising an eyebrow in his direction. "You're right." He lightly said surprising Rick. "I am the brains and you are the muscles."

Alaric huffed derisively finishing his bottle and setting it down on the ground. "You wish." He laughed. "I don't think you even know what the word 'brains' mean."

Just when Enzo opened his mouth, ready for a smart comeback, they were interrupted.

"Oh my God!" Exclaimed Damon, sliding out from under the car. "Do you guys never stop with this bickering?" He regarded them with wide eyes and slightly parted mouth, once again stunned by the fact that he had never noticed their behavior before it was pointed out to him.

"He's the one who started it." Snapped Enzo pointing his bottle at Rick who looked at him with disbelieving eyes.

"How did I start this?" Belted Rick. "You are the one who called me useless!" He said standing up and turning toward Enzo.

"That was just stating the truth." Responded the older vampire moving closer to Rick and looking up at him.

"Alright, that's it." Spoke Damon putting down his tools on a nearby box and walking to stand between the two vampires. "You two need to stop this."

"Then choose one of us so that the other can leave." Said Enzo still locked in a stare down with Alaric.

"Yeah, choose Damon so this dick can go back to wherever he came from." Agreed Rick in a tight voice.

Damon stared at the both of them, not understanding how the two of them could make him do something as stupid as this. He squared his shoulders and growled, "I have no intention of choosing one of you, dammit!"

Both Enzo and Rick turned to look at him. Why? Why couldn't he just tell them who he wanted as friend and get rid of the other?

Damon saw their confused expression and took a deep breath. He wasn't good at the whole emotional talk, he was the kind of guy who preferred to show his feelings through his actions instead of spelling them out through his words. This time, though, it looked like he had to just get a hold of himself and state clearly what he thought of this absurdity.

Steeling his resolve he looked Enzo in the eye. "Do you know why I bought the Camaro?"

Of all the things Enzo was expecting this surely wasn't one of them. He furrowed his brows in confusion and waited for Damon to explain himself.

"You said you liked convertibles." Said Damon with an even voice. "That day while we were prisoners of the Augustines, you asked me if I had a favorite type of car and I told you I was more a horse and carriage kind of guy, do you remember?" At Enzo's nod he continued. "You told me you liked sport-cars, especially convertibles, so you could drive around the pretty ladies with the top down."

Enzo didn't know what to say. He thought Damon had just forgotten everything about the things he had said in those days. After all, when he had abandoned him he said he had turned off his humanity.

Damon swallowed before going on. "Do you realize what that means? Even though I had my emotions switched off when in 1967 I saw that Camaro, I bought it because there was a part of me that still cared about you, Enzo." He said without faltering. "Something inside of me told me to buy it just because I remembered that you would have liked it."

Enzo remained silent. Without giving him the time to reply, Damon turned toward Alaric who had listened in silence while he talked to Enzo.

"And you." He said pointing at him. "Do you think it's a habit of mine to ask vampire hunters to store their weapons in the trunk of my car?" He asked raising an eyebrow. "I'll give you a hint: no. I did it because I trusted you. Because you saved my life not a day after I told you I had slept with your wife and then turned her into a vampire, just to kill you soon after. For God's sake, Rick I even talked to your grave! I don't do this kind of things for just about anyone."

Finished with his speech he turned and walk to the car, sitting down on the hood previously closed by Enzo. He clasped his hands on his lap and looked at the darkening sunset.

"I never had a lot of friends growing up." He softly said. "Not when I was human and certainly not after I was turned, so if you think I'm going to choose one of you it means that you understand nothing about me."

Alaric and Enzo looked at each other in silence before moving to sit each on one side of Damon, Enzo bringing his still open bottle of beer and two others he passed to Damon and Rick. The three of them drank together in silence for a while before Damon resumed talking.

"For sixty years I thought you were dead, Enzo." The aforementioned vampire lowered his gaze to the bottle he held between his hands. "When I turned my emotions on, I had to live with the knowledge that I had left my only friend to die in a fire."

He took a long gulp from his bottle. "You had been the only human I had allowed to become my friend, Alaric. I always knew you were going to die one day, but I didn't expect that day to come so soon."

Neither did Alaric. He had never wanted to become a vampire, but he surely hadn't wanted to die so soon. Especially not while trying to kill his best friend.

"And now I found out that you didn't die." Continued Damon lightly bumping his shoulder against Enzo's. "And you came back to life as a super vampire that, practically, cannot be killed." This time he nudged Alaric between his ribs. "Do you really think that I'm going to waste my second opportunity by choosing only one of you?"

The three vampire raised their bottles to drink. Both Enzo and Alaric thought about everything Damon had said. When he put things in that perspective the two of them really looked stupid. All this time they had done everything possible to decide who was Damon's best friend, when really it should have been obvious that this was how it was going to end.

Maybe they could make this work. If Enzo had been able to move past the whole fire thing, and Alaric had forgiven Damon for killing him, twice, then surely they could find a way to coexist. The alternative would have been to lose Damon and that really wasn't a choice. Damon wasn't the only one who didn't have a lot of friends.

Enzo had spent the better part of his life in a cell, tortured by psychopaths. Seventy years spent like that really didn't give you much of a choice when it came to friends. Add to that the fact that he had no family and all that remained was loneliness. So yeah, maybe Alaric could be a little uptight sometimes and way too moral for his tastes. But it was clear he cared for his friends, and he had no qualms about staining his hands with blood if it was to protect them. Enzo could surely use a friend like that in his life.

As for Alaric, sometimes he felt like the only adult in their group. He cared about everyone in their little group of misfits, but they were all so young. Some of them would always be young no matter how many years went by. And yes, Enzo had a tendency of snapping people's necks before thinking about the situation. But he was loyal to a fault, that he was certain of. Alaric appreciated loyalty in a friend. Sometimes that was all that mattered. In the end it was clear what was going to happen.

It seemed like Team Bad-Ass would no longer be a duo.

Alaric leaned forward a bit to look at Enzo. "It looks like we got off on the wrong foot." He said making Enzo look at him with a slight tilt of his head. "I would like us to start over, _Enzo_."

Alaric reached out with his right hand. Enzo looked at it before one side of his mouth lifted in a crooked smile. "I suppose we can do that, _Rick._" He smirked grasping his hand tightly.

After that, almost as if reading each others minds, the three vampire raised their bottles and clicked them together. Damon was glad with how things had been resolved. It wasn't going to be easy but they had an eternity ahead of them to get close.

Hiding behind a tree nearby, Elena happily smiled at the three men in her life.


	12. Epilogue

**AN: This is it my friends! I present to you the last chapter of this story! As you can see this chapter is longer than the others, and this is the reason why I didn't update yesterday like I should have.**

**This said I have to give a special thank you to Helene08, jairem, Karolina94 and Short on words for remaining with me throughout this fantastic journey. I couldn't have done this without your constant support.**

**Of course I want to thank also all of you for favoring, following or simply reading this fic. A giant bear hug goes to those of you that reviewed as guests. You are as important to us authors as any other reviewer!**

**Enjoy this chapter, it's all for you!**

* * *

Damon was nervous. He never thought he'd ever feel like this in his life. Of course there had been moments in his life where he had felt a similar restlessness running through his body.

There was that time, when he was five years old, he had had to tell his mother he had broken her favorite vase only to have her gently smile at him before caressing his cheek, asking him if he had hurt himself. When he had shyly shaken his head no, she had hugged him telling him not to worry because she could replace every single vase in the house but he was one of a kind.

When at eighteen he had marched up to his father to tell him he had decided to join the Confederate Army, for a second he had felt on the verge of fainting thinking about what he was going to do. He was going to war. He would be marching together with his fellow soldiers into battle. Maybe he'd get wounded, maybe he'd die. Who would take care of his baby brother then?

When he had first told Elena he loved her, there was a moment he had felt like his heart was going to leap out of his chest from all the love he was feeling. It didn't matter that he was going to compel the memory from her. It didn't matter that she would never remember what he was going to say. He still felt like he was on the edge of a cliff, ready to jump into the dark.

But this was completely different from all those moments. When he had fearfully approached his mother he had been scared that she would yell at him, which was stupid because she never yelled at him. Never. When it came to his father he had been afraid of his reaction. Of having to witness the total lack of concern for his son's life in his father's eyes. Of having to know that he was such a disappointment that his own father didn't care if he lived or died. And with Elena, well that time had been the knowledge that she didn't love him back that had made him tremble in his boots. Even though rejection had played a major role in his life he couldn't stand to have his love thrown back in his face by her.

He poured himself some bourbon to try and sooth his wrecked nerves. It was a great thing that he couldn't get drunk, otherwise he would have been already hammered and Elena would have probably ended up killing him for embarrassing her today of all days. What he brought to his lips was the fifth, or was it sixth, glass of bourbon. He licked his lips after finishing his glass, setting it down on a nearby table.

He marched up to the floor length mirror by the side of the windows leading to a small garden. Once in front of it he inspected his reflection, looking for anything out of place. His black Armani suit, he had always had an impeccable taste in clothes and he was not going to dress like a peasant right on this day, didn't have a single crease. He still smoothed his hand along the length of it just to be sure, while checking that his cufflinks were still in the right place. His shoes shined so brightly that they risked blinding anyone who had the misfortune of staring straight at them.

When he looked at the bow tie wrapped around his neck he cursed under his breath. The damn thing just didn't want to stay in place. With nervous hands he went to straighten it. After a long, tense moment in which he struggled against that slip of fabric, he simply decided to take it off and start again. He took a deep breath and started knotting it again, carefully moving his hands.

"You are still knotting that thing?"

Enzo's voice startled him, he was so wrapped up in his world that he hadn't heard him open and close the door, making him pull a little harder than necessary the bow tie almost choking himself. He cursed again, preparing himself to start again.

"It just won't stay in its place." Grunted Damon, struggling with it. "It's like it's doing it on purpose just to spite me." God, how much he hated bow ties.

Enzo chuckled softly, looking at his friend nervously trying to fix the disaster currently wrapped around his neck. He was doing such a poor job that that thing barely looked like a bow tie. Shaking his head, Enzo walked up to him and made him turn toward him by taking hold of his shoulder. He smacked away Damon's hands, earning himself a glare, and proceeded in tying the bow tie with simple and practiced movements.

"I tied this thing for you not twenty minutes ago, Damon. You really need to stop fidgeting with it." Said Enzo, concentrating on his hands. "I don't understand why you don't know how to do this, mate."

"Must be because I'm not English. You guys love bow ties, right?" Grumbled Damon, keeping himself perfectly still so as not to disturb Enzo.

The other vampire smiled. "Then you're lucky that I happen to be English and that I know how to fix the mess you created." Smirked Enzo finishing fastening the bow tie and smoothing his hands over it to make it stay still. "Here you go."

"Thanks." Said Damon reluctantly, going back to examining himself in the mirror.

Enzo placed himself by his right side, quickly checking his own suit and smirking when he saw everything exactly where it should be. His own bow tie was right in place, exactly where it had been for the past hour, his suit didn't have a crease and his shoes were perfectly polished. He mentally sighed when he saw Damon adjusting the flower in his breast pocket.

"Leave it be." He said smacking his hand away, before moving the flower in its previous position. "Stop messing with your suit, you look perfect."

Damon didn't take advantage of his choice of words to make a quick innuendo. Instead he heavily gulped, clenching his hands into fist and gritting his teeth. He seemed on the verge of a total breakdown so Enzo decided to intervene before he worried himself into a heart attack. He grabbed him by the shoulders and turned him away from the mirror.

"Listen to me." He said looking him in the eye. "Everything is perfect. In a couple of minutes we are going to go out there, you'll see the love of your life and by the end of the morning you will have said goodbye to your life as a free man forever." He smiled.

Damon's eyes widened and he held his breath for a moment. Enzo cocked his head to the side, encouraging him to say what he clearly needed to vocalize.

"I'm getting married." He said all in one breath.

Enzo raised an eyebrow. "Yes, Damon you are getting married today." He said, not completely sure about what Damon was trying to tell him.

Damon shook his head. "You don't understand, Enzo. I'm getting married." He repeated with a note of hysteria in his voice. Enzo remained silent, appalled by his friend's behavior. "What if I get out there and she doesn't show up? What if when it's the moment she doesn't say 'I do'? What if..."

Enzo interrupted him before he could imagine anything more horrific, giving himself nightmares for at least a few months. "Stop being ridiculous, mate." He said reassuringly. Damon still looked like the proverbial deer caught in the headlights, so he decided to step up his game.

He sighed, giving himself a moment to think about what to say to his friend to calm him down. When he found the right words he squeezed his shoulders tightly, making Damon look him in the eye. He looked on the verge of tears.

"Listen to me, Damon." He started in a soft voice. "Everything is gonna be alright, I can promise you this. You want to know why?" He asked, receiving a barely perceptible nod in answer. "Because what you're feeling right now is completely normal. It's also stupid because when I went to see how Elena was doing, do you know what I found out?" Damon shook his head no. Enzo smiled at him. "She was feeling exactly like you."

Damon tilted his head to the side. "Really?" He asked in a breath.

Enzo nodded firmly at him. "Aye, she was scared that you were going to run away leaving her here all alone."

Damon looked horrified at the news. "I would never do that!" He exclaimed, looking mortally wounded by his insinuation.

Enzo raised both his hands in a display of surrender. "I know that, and I'm pretty sure Elena knows it too." He said mentally rolling his eyes when he saw Damon relaxing and nodding to himself. "So you see that it's completely normal to feel like this, but I can assure you that as soon as you'll see her you wont have any doubt about what you're doing."

Damon seemed ready to object. However, he stopped when he realized that Enzo was being completely serious. He gulped heavily and closed his eyes, breathing deeply to calm himself down. When he felt in control again he opened his eyes and smiled tightly.

"Thank you, Enzo." He muttered, gaining a smirk and a shrugging of shoulders from his friend. "You're a good best man."

Enzo chuckled lightly, moving toward a nearby table to pour himself a glass of bourbon. "I told you, you had made the right choice."

* * *

_A few months ago_

_Enzo and Rick were sitting in silence in the latter's apartment, waiting nervously for their friend to arrive and tell them how everything had gone. That night Damon was going to propose to Elena. The two of them had helped him set up the perfect place to ask her the most important question ever. They had filled the garden of the Boarding House with thousands of lanterns and in the middle of them, a table ready for two had been set._

_When Damon had asked them how he should propose, the two vampires has surprisingly agreed that he should keep things simple. Elena wasn't the kind of woman who gave importance to five stars restaurants and things like that. She valued Damon's heart not his money, so a simple dinner by the light of those lanterns was the perfect way to go._

_So here they were now, sitting side by side, Top Gear in the background, even though they hadn't listened to a single word of it, waiting for the news. Four hours earlier they had given him a light push out of the door, ordering him to tell them how things went as soon as possible._

_It was incredible how five years had changed them. From that day when the two of hem had decided to start over, things had been wonderful. Enzo and Rick had really started from zero, making an effort to behave for the sake of Damon. Now, they could almost say that Team Bad Ass was composed of three best friends. They still bickered like children most of the time, but they did it for fun. They knew that they had each others back._

_When the door opened and a smiling Damon entered the apartment, the two of them jumped up already congratulating their friend. After a round of manly hugs and slaps on the back, they sat at the small table in Alaric's kitchen a glass of the most expensive bourbon Rick had in each of their hands._

_After Damon had told them every detail of the evening, a comfortable silence filled the room. The three men where happy each for their reasons. Damon couldn't believe that he was engaged to his Elena and that in a few months he was going to be her husband. Rick was happy to see that finally Damon could spend the rest of his life with someone who loved him. As for Enzo, seeing Damon so exhilarated at the idea of marrying Elena, made him think that maybe there was hope for him too._

"_So..." Said Damon effectively breaking the silence and making the other two vampires look at him. "Now that I know that I'm going to get married," he smiled after saying those words, "there is something that we have to decide."_

_Rick and Enzo exchanged a look, waiting for Damon to explain himself._

"_My best man." Said Damon looking first at Rick and then at Enzo. The other two remained silent, not sure on how to help him make a decision. They both wanted to be his best man, but they had learned their lesson thanks to past experience._

"_Now, before the two of you engage in mortal battle to decide who's gonna do it," intervened Damon, "I kind of have an idea that would solve the problem." When he received a nod from the others he continued. "Enzo," he said turning toward him, "I would like for you to be my best man."_

_The younger vampire was speechless. "But what about your brother? Shouldn't you be asking him?" He said still stunned. _

"_I already talked to him and he said he was willing to officiate the ceremony for us. Believe it or not he actually can. The wonders of the Internet." Replied Damon incapable of stopping smiling. "So, what do you say?"_

_All Enzo managed to do was nod dazzlingly, incapable of forming coherent thoughts. Damon smirked at him before turning toward a sullen looking Alaric._

"_Rick," he said making him raise his eyes, "Elena and I talked about this and we decided that, since she doesn't have a father anymore, we would like for you to accompany her at the altar. If you want." He quickly said. "We already talked to Jeremy and he agreed with us."_

_He was met with a stunned look by Rick. Just when he was beginning to think that Alaric was having a stroke, he found himself squeezed in a tight bear hug that threatened to snap him in half._

* * *

"You were right." Said Damon, shaking himself from his memories.

"Of course I was right, we're talking about me here." Laughed Enzo, looking almost offended by what Damon had said. How was it possible that people still thought he could be wrong?

Just then the door opened and Jeremy's head appeared. The two men turned toward him waiting to hear what he had to say.

"Alaric says that Elena is ready, so you should take your place." He told Damon with a smile before disappearing behind the door.

Enzo turned to Damon offering him a glass of bourbon, seeing as the other man had turned a little pale even for a vampire.

"You ready?" Asked Enzo.

Damon gulped down the content of the glass all in one movement before putting it down. He rapidly flattened the lapels of his jacket with nervous hands, before passing them through his hair to comb them a little bit. He then turned to his friend and took a deep breath.

"I can do this." He breathed trying to calm his nerves.

Enzo gave him a pat on the shoulder. "Damn right, you can." He said with determination.

He then proceeded to steer his friend toward the door. When Damon finally snapped out of his thoughts he realized that he was standing by his brother's side at the altar, Enzo only a couple of steps behind him. When he raised his eyes to look at his brother he found him smiling at him like the cat that ate the canary.

"What?" He asked, self conscious. Did he have something on his face? Was there something wrong with his suit? What if the bow tie was already crooked?

Stefan lightly chuckled, shaking his head. "Nothing, brother. I'm just happy to be here with you, on this day." He said innocently.

Damon softly smiled in return, grateful that his brother had decided not to comment on his nervousness. He really wasn't in the right state of mind to think about a possible comeback to throw at him.

It was great seeing his brother. In the last five years, things had changed between the two of them. They were finally going back to the easy friendship they had had when they were humans. They teased each others, sometimes they argued, but they were brothers again. As much as Damon hated to admit this, it probably had to do with Caroline's positive influence on his brother. They were really a good couple, balancing each other perfectly.

While Enzo had been a little put out by Caroline's choice, in the end he decided it was better like that. After all, if he had pursued Caroline he would have never met Grace. When he had first met the fiery redhead, Enzo had immediately felt a connection between them. Things between them were progressing quite well, even though Grace was a witch.

Alaric, after some convincing had decided to ask Jo out. More like Damon, being the awesome wing man that he was, had sneakily arranged a date for the two of them. Things had gone pretty well after that. They had had a bit of a fallout when the sexy doctor had found out that Rick was a vampire, but in the end she had decided that she had fallen in love with Alaric and she didn't care of he was a mythological creature or whatever.

The notes of Mendelssohn's Wedding March made him turn toward the entrance of the church. The second he laid eyes on Elena everything around him vanished. He didn't notice Caroline and Bonnie, Elena's bridesmaid, walking along the aisle until they reached their place on the right side of the altar. He didn't even see Alaric, who was walking alongside his bride to be, with his hand atop Elena's on his forearm.

When they finally reached the altar and Alaric softly kissed Elena on the forehead before passing her to him, Damon was practically humming with his excitement. The two lovers gazed in each others eyes, without saying a word. They didn't need to say anything, their eyes talked for them. Damon gently took her hands in his, and everything was perfect.

If anyone were to ask him to repeat Stefan's words throughout the ceremony, Damon wouldn't have known what to say. He didn't hear a single word of what was being said. He just kept gazing in her eyes, softly caressing her hands. He could have stayed like that for the rest of his eternal life.

A soft pat on his back accompanied by Enzo quietly clearing his throat, roused him from his happy place. He turned toward Enzo who was presenting him the rings with an amused expression. Damon blushed taking one of the rings.

He turned toward a smiling Elena and softly said, while sliding the ring on her finger, "There are a million things that I would like to say right now, but if I were to say each and every one of them I would probably go on 'till the end of time. So I will only say this: I love you. Of all the people I've ever met, you are the brightest, the purest and the most important of all to me. And I will show you everyday of my life, the life that you've saved, how much you mean to me."

Elena's eyes filled with tears at his simple but touching words. She reached for the second ring and said in a broken voice, sliding the ring on his left ring finger, "I had this amazing speech prepared, but as always you have to ruin everything with your ridiculously heartfelt confessions." Damon smiled at this. "You don't have to show me anything. I am the one that has to show you how much I love you. And I will. I swear to you that not a day will go by in which you won't feel like the most loved man in the entire world. This I promise you."

Damon remained speechless at her words. Stefan looked at the both of them before pronouncing the last words of the ceremony.

"With the power given to me by God and by the Commonwealth of Virginia, I now pronounce you husband and wife." Said Stefan in a solemn voice. "Those who all The Powers of the Universe have joined together, let no one put asunder. You may now kiss the bride."

Damon didn't even get the chance to do as his brother had said. Elena, too impatient, simply raised her veil, stepped closer to him and kissed him full on the mouth. After the initial shock, Damon responded eagerly to her kiss.

When they separated, surrounded by the laughter of their small gathering, Damon smiled, "I was supposed to be the one who had to do the kissing."

Elena softly laughed, "Shut up and kiss me again."

And so he did.

* * *

Alaric and Enzo stood on the steps outside the church, looking as Damon and Elena stepped inside a newly repaired Camaro to drive toward the reception. The two vampires were smiling with equal happiness for their friend. Things had finally gone well for him. For them, really. Enzo turned toward his friend.

"So," he started "I casually heard Damon and Elena talking about possibly adopting a kid the other day." He casually said.

Alaric smiled, "I know, they think they're being subtle about this but I think that everyone knows about it." He shook his head.

Enzo nodded at him. After a moment of silence he said, "Who do you think they will choose as godfather?"

Alaric threw his head back laughing out loud. "I am not going to embark in another competition with you."

Enzo laughed with him, they really had learned their lesson.

A second later though Alaric murmured, "For the record, I think they would choose me."

Enzo turned toward him. "Oh really?" He asked, receiving a nod in response. "Well, then." He said looking at the Camaro, driving away in the morning light. "You know what this means."

Alaric looked in the same direction as the other vampire before smiling softly.

"Game on."


End file.
